Solid vs plywood

[scroll-1]

am thinking about using plywood instead of solid lumber on some larger projects. and am having a problem convincing myself that it is a good idea, I am not sure how glued up wood will last for long periods of time, especially the 1/4 inch boards. I have experienced breakage when cutting intricate designs and the frustration of having to resaw or try to repair it. I guess my question is. Does plywood take away any value of a peice. and are there any other disadvantages of using it. Thankd

[pops-shop]

I use plywood quite a lot in my scroll sawing projects. The biggest trick is to use a #2 reverse blade and a good quality birch plywood. I have very few tearouts and very few "holes" in the internal filler. The reverse teeth keep the bottom of the piece smooth and the #2 blade cuts a great line.

See some of my stuff at http://www.pops-shop.net

happy sawing

fred

[William Young]

Fred is right. You need a good quality plywood for scrolling . Most of us use baltic birch plywood whenever we choose to use plywood for a project. I still use some BB ply for shelving units and portraits in wood etc but if you ever get into clock making, I would suggest using solid woods.
You asked if plywood takes away from the value of the piece? The answer is YES. At lest from my experience . I have made hundreds of clocks from basic to advanced and any time I tried making one with plywood, I couldnt get half the price as with solid woods . Some I just gave away.
Also, if you ever take a plywood article where it is being judged (As in a fair) against solid wood similar projects, the solid one will always be judjed higher even if your workmanship is better than the others.
Hope this helps.
Plywood certainly has its place for some things and not for others.
W.Y.
http://mypage.uniserve.ca/~bzy/Rhinelander%20Fair.jpg
Red ribbons are first place in Canada and blue is second.
In USA it is the opposite. Anyone know the reason for that?