>"Madison Canadian Lumber Reporter Publisher, Laurie Cater says there a very few companies making this kind of Plywood and so it is not a significant portion of the market."<

Really?

Doesn't this response remind one of the reactions from Ford, GM, Chrysler and American Motors (when the first Japanese made automobiles imports arrived on our shores in the Sixties): "Not to worry, it is just a very small portion of the market and very few people will want to buy one of those things."

The rest of course is history.

Thia is, of course just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many things we are now buying that come from china. I am not saying we all should buy canadian and only canadian but if we dont start choosing to pay a little more for some things to support canadian history our children will all be working in the tourist industry serving drinks to rich chinese tourists. Service industry jobs are honorable and important, but they tend to pay poorly. Also, a country needs industry to be strong and to maintain a measure of self determination. So BUY CANADIAN.

So Colin bought some plywood, eh?

;-)

"much of the cabinet wood being sold in Prince George and region is made in China"

And the rest is not made here either. It comes from the USA, other Asian countries, as well as South America and Africa. There might be some plants back east as well.

In addition, it is not only plywood that is imported from other countries for cabinet wood, but solid wood as well. It might be worthwhile to spend some time at Windsor plywood looking around and asking a few questions about the origin of the wood they stock for serious cabinet making hobbiests. After that, give some furniture manufacturers in Canada a call (they are far and few between and most are likely in Quebec) and see where they get their supplies from for their "solid wood" furniture.

So what kind of wood are we talking about? I assume it is not poplar. Has Prince George ever made plywood for use in cabinets? No, not to the best of my knowledge. Cabinet plywood comes from all parts of the world which have better quality hardwoods than we do (or at least than we harvest, since we think of birch as weed).

Also, there is is considerable difference between wafer board and plywood.

BTW, I would be interested in seeing the 6 ply sheets. The plywood standards I am aware of and have used always has an odd number of plys to reduce warping. The more plies, the stronger the plywood becomes in both directions. It has superior shear qualities.

We must remember that we are manufacturers of the "simple" stuff. Compared to higher end plywood products, we produce everyday products. The high end production and materials research for applications such as aircraft, boats, furniture, etc. has been left to other countries. We manufacture products with very low added value.

That has been our marketing "strategy" to date. We have large volumes of softwood, other parts of the world have smaller volumes of hardwood.

Look at this Finnish manufacturer of specialty plywood, for example.

http://w3.upm-kymmene.com/upm/internet/cms/upmmma.nsf/lupgraphics/WISACraftPlywood_en_72dpi.pdf/$file/WISACraftPlywood_en_72dpi.pdf

I am not surprised Wal-mart has not been selling this stuff. It only seems right.

"So Colin bought some plywood, eh?"

Or is it Owl for Mayor next time around?

I've never been to China. So maybe it would be a good idea to try. I could run on a "send a poor boy to China campaign".

With my luck, I would end up in China Bar.

This 21st century will see the rise and dominance of China and India over the old established former powerhouses USA and Europe.

This will happen much sooner than anticipated if America squanders any more of its resources (most of them borrowed) on protracted military expeditions.

Nothing lasts forever.

BTW:

The first Chinese made automobiles have begun to show up in Europe - they are much lower priced, technically quite advanced and much improved in quality.

They are sold before they are unloaded from the boat as the demand is great.

We could make key rings from blue wood with the name of the car engraved in it as a value added product.

;-)

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/may2005/nf20050526_0195_db016.htm

BTW

Where do we get our beef, eggs and oh and how about the fresh cut Christmas Trees????????

Owl is right, wafer board and plywood aren't the same thing. I think that by the number of 'wafers' should read 'plies'.

Locally made plywood is peeled in 1/8" or 1/10" thicknesses, and is predominately used in the housing market, not for cabinet making. 5/8" plywood has five 1/8" layers, 3/4" plywood has 6 1/8" layers. The more plies (11 or 13 layers of thinner veneer) the more labour intensive, hence China's ability to make this a profitable enterprise.

Using locally made 1/8" plywood for making cabinets is difficult, as it isn't dense enough, since it is soft wood, not hard wood. Believe me, I've tried. Owl has already eluded to this.

As a region / province / country if we don't find a way to attract investors who want to manufacture value added wood products we're doomed, might as well start learning another language. :-)

To sell a product, you have to be at least close in price and quality. I've been admiring pine plywood from Chile - same price as our good 1 side fir,much better surface on both good and bad sides, the 1/4" has 5 ply instead of 3, and very few small core voids.

If our manufacturers expect to sell even to their own market, they have to do better. We are supposed to have good quality logs - What's happened to the finished product?

To sell a product, you have to be at least close in price and quality. I've been admiring pine plywood from Chile - same price as our good 1 side fir,much better surface on both good and bad sides, the 1/4" has 5 ply instead of 3, and very few small core voids.

If our manufacturers expect to sell even to their own market, they have to do better. We are supposed to have good quality logs - What's happened to the finished product?