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Hit 40 dollars for a single sheet of birch plywood and that made me reconsider my whole desk build
I always figured I'd just grab the cheap stuff from the big box store, but when I saw the price tag for a decent 3/4 inch sheet I decided I had to do something different with the scraps. I ended up using the offcuts to build a monitor riser and cable tray, and now I actually like the desk more than if I'd built it from standard boards. Has anyone else splurged on material and then found a way to make every piece count?
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harper_owens2d ago
DUDE yes. I went through the EXACT same thing when I was building my workbench last year. Paid like 45 bucks for a single sheet of baltic birch and nearly had a heart attack at the register. Ended up using every little triangle and strip from the cutoffs to make a set of shelf brackets and a little tool caddy that hangs off the side. The whole project felt way more personal than if I'd just bought the lumber and built it square. Something about squeezing every drop of value out of that expensive plywood made me appreciate the build a thousand times more.
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adam_robinson1d ago
Buddy of mine did the same thing last spring when he was building a corner desk for his home office. @harper_owens, you nailed it with that "feeling way more personal" thing. He bought a single sheet of that expensive maple ply, cringed at the price, then cut it so careful he used the little triangle scraps to make corner braces and the tiny strips to build a hidden cable channel under the back edge. Even the sawdust got mixed into wood filler to patch the screw holes. Now every time I see that desk I can point to some random piece and he'll tell me exactly where it came from on the original sheet.
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