What is luan plywood?
Tim Resch
>I am presently restoring a hoosier (kitchen cabinet) from the 1920"s. I
>understand that the original manufacturer used Luan plywood for the back and
>other hidden areas. My question is what is luan plywood? I have never heard of
>this material. I live in Canada so is it just a local name for a type of
>plywood. I can readily get birch or poplar plywood.
>Thanks in advance for your help
>Gary Sedgwick
Luan, or Luaun, or a few other spellings I can't recall, is a thin,
lightweight plywood, sorta... It's got two nice laminate faces that are pretty
good grade, and some mystery material between them. This stuff is great, it
cuts easily, finishes great, holds up to weather fairly well.
Most commmonly around here (Pennsylvania) we get 1/4" though I've heard of
1/8" on the west coast, and it goes up to around 3/4" or 1" if you special
order it.
Good luck finding it...
******************************************************************************************
Tim "Toolslinger" Resch
tools...@psu.edu
Tech Direction, Lighting, Carpentry, Electrics, Etc....
"Don't be any one thing, specialization is for insects!!!....
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Michael Peele
sedg...@afns.ualberta.ca (Gary Sedgwick) wrote:
>Hello Everyone,
>I am presently restoring a hoosier (kitchen cabinet) from the 1920"s. I
>understand that the original manufacturer used Luan plywood for the back and
>other hidden areas. My question is what is luan plywood? I have never heard of
>this material. I live in Canada so is it just a local name for a type of
>plywood. I can readily get birch or poplar plywood.
>Thanks in advance for your help
>Gary Sedgwick
Luan plywood is plywood made from Philippine Mahogany, which may or may not
come form the Philippines. Sometimes its called white mahognay. All of it I
have ever seen is kinda ugly (IMO).
I don't know this for a fact but I don't think it would not have been used
on a cabinet made in the 20's, 70's, 80's and 90's yes but not the 20's.
From my experience with furniture from that era, on cheep stuff it would have
been poplar, more expensive might have had maple.
Michael Peele
Gary Sedgwick
aba...@neosoft.com
Peele) wrote:
> Luan plywood is plywood made from Philippine Mahogany, which may or may not
> come form the Philippines. Sometimes its called white mahognay. All of it I
> have ever seen is kinda ugly (IMO).
>
> I don't know this for a fact but I don't think it would not have been used
> on a cabinet made in the 20's, 70's, 80's and 90's yes but not the 20's.
> From my experience with furniture from that era, on cheep stuff it would have
> been poplar, more expensive might have had maple.
>
> Michael Peele
Don't worry about it! I read somewhere recently that they are not
harvesting Luan anymore as there is not enough left to make it worthwhile.
Woods now sold as Luan, are not Luan.
Ken Young
: Hello Everyone,
: I am presently restoring a hoosier (kitchen cabinet) from the 1920"s. I
: understand that the original manufacturer used Luan plywood for the back and
: other hidden areas. My question is what is luan plywood? I have never heard of
: this material. I live in Canada so is it just a local name for a type of
: plywood. I can readily get birch or poplar plywood.
: Thanks in advance for your help
: Gary Sedgwick
:
It is fast growing, soft, moves a lot, and very inexpensive.
The plywood used would have been lumber-core plywood. It is a thin
veneer on the outsides with glued strips of Luan on the inside to
make a solid core.
I don't think you will be able to find it today, but that won't be a
problem for you. The origional manufacturer was just using some
inexpensive plywood. You can get some hardwood plywood with a Poplar
core at most lumberyards.
Ken Young
Greg Chapp
necessarily come from the Phillipines any more, but that is the type
of wood. Here in So. California it is the cheapest 1/4" plywood that
you can get. I think it can come from a few different species of
tree, but they are all very similar (I'm not real sure about this).
It supposedly comes from the currently vast but rapidly dwindling
tropical rain forests I've read.
Greg Chapp
HEARTBREAK KID
found in SE Asia, primarily the Phillipines. It is their form of
"Pine/Fir Spruce" construction grade plywood material. Most of the
stuff coming into the US lately is from a tree called "Meranti" and,
while the grain pattern is the same as true Luan (which, in turn,
resembles true mahogany but is much softer and not in the same Latin
Genus family scientifically), it's much closer to white in color,
hence the misnomer "white mahogany".
Source of above information: Recent trips to Payless Cashways and Home
Depot stores to try to buy sheet of real Luan and a more than passing
relationship with the "Good Wood Handbook" and "Sterling's
Encyclopedia of Wood."
HBK
Bob Moran
group of closely related species that grow in Southeast Asia and are
better known internationally as Meranti. Another common name here, though
a misnomer, is Philippine mahogany--lauan is NOT related to the
mahoganies. Globally, lauan accounts for more plywood production than any
other hardwood. In the US, lauan plywood is commonly used for floor
underlay because it has no voids in the inner plys, unlike typical
American softwood plywood. It is also used extensively for mass-produced
hollow-core interior doors.
Bob Moran, Rodale Woodworking Books
Wayne Torborg
>Hello Everyone,
>I am presently restoring a hoosier (kitchen cabinet) from the 1920"s. I
>understand that the original manufacturer used Luan plywood for the back and
>other hidden areas. My question is what is luan plywood? I have never heard of
>this material. I live in Canada so is it just a local name for a type of
>plywood. I can readily get birch or poplar plywood.
>Thanks in advance for your help
>Gary Sedgwick
Gary:
Luan is a tropical wood that is often called Phillipine mahogany. This
type of plywood can be found in any of the Home Depot, Menard's, etc.
sort of place. It is inexpensive and usually of decent quality.
This wood is used for many "odd job" tasks. I don't know if it still
holds true, but motercycles from Japan used to be crated in it. One
could score some decent wood by hanging around Honda dealerships...
regards,
===============================
Wayne Torborg
wtor...@cloudnet.com
71221...@compuserve.com
===============================
Thomas Dalzell
>From: tar...@psu.edu (Tim Resch)
>Subject: Re: What is luan plywood?
>Date: Wed, 29 Nov 1995 17:35:42 GMT
>>Hello Everyone,
>>I am presently restoring a hoosier (kitchen cabinet) from the 1920"s. I
>>understand that the original manufacturer used Luan plywood for the back and
>>other hidden areas. My question is what is luan plywood? I have never heard of
>>this material. I live in Canada so is it just a local name for a type of
>>plywood. I can readily get birch or poplar plywood.
>>Thanks in advance for your help
>>Gary Sedgwick
>Luan, or Luaun, or a few other spellings I can't recall, is a thin,
>lightweight plywood, sorta... It's got two nice laminate faces that are pretty
>good grade, and some mystery material between them. This stuff is great, it
>cuts easily, finishes great, holds up to weather fairly well.
>Most commmonly around here (Pennsylvania) we get 1/4" though I've heard of
>1/8" on the west coast, and it goes up to around 3/4" or 1" if you special
>order it.
>Good luck finding it...
Luan is a type of "pine" though it looks like "mahogany". It is used to
make plywood, which is way comonly available in 3, 4, & 5.5 mm (1'8, 3/16, &
<1/4"). The first two are often refered to as doorskins, the later as
underlayment, cost $7-14 a sheet. A lot of folks use it in boats if the boats
are epoxy/glass sheathed. Good stuff if you are careful.
Thomas
JOwen33455
When I asked a store clerk he said HD no longer bought luan because it
was harvested from Rain Forest Trees.
From my own experiences, I agree it looks like mahogany.
HEARTBREAK KID
Don't know who started this thread (again) or, otherwise, I'd just
reply by email to save bandwidth. Guy at HD is in error. Luaun
(correct by the book spelling, usually shortened to luan) is, as 4/4
solid material, also called "Phillipine Mahogany" which is, itself,
not in the same family as "genuine" Mahogany. Tree grows primarily in
the Phillipines but is found scattered thruout most parts of the
Pacific Rim. In less technical terms: Luan is to the Oriental, what
Fir or pine is to us: Cheap and plentiful. Most "luan" as sold in the
US today is Meranti, another species of common tree in SE Asia and the
Pacific Islands that, depending on which scientific book you read, is
also one of a half dozen or more species of trees. Meranti is often
called "White Mahogany" as it is generally much lighter in color than
traditional "phillipine mahogany". In the US, 90% or more of it
(whichever "it" it is) is used as 1/4" plywood for underlayment in the
home building business. Some commercial cabinet and furniture shop
suppliers also stock it 1/2" thick in both 4' x 8' sheets and already
ripped to various widths as drawer stock. Also available in 3/4"
thicknesses in a few places. Once in a while seen as 3/8" "bending
luan" and 1/8" thicknesses also available at select locations. Also
imported and sold to veneer plywood factories as "platform" which is a
sheet of plywood minus it's two whatever type "good veneer" outer
layers. Umpteen latin names never learned and not desired by my
memory banks. Key words to know are "1/4" thick, cheap, used for
drawer bottoms, cabinet backs, underlayment on floors and, I guess, in
trying to be politically correct, is not a generally a managed tree
because it grows like weeds."
HBK
Who is not a scientist and has only 40 years of using it on both sides
of the Pacific and a half dozen reference books to rely on in making
the above statements.
cas...@gmail.com
But if you get meranti, you’re getting authentic Luan.
pyotr filipivich
rec.woodworking the following:
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?
(;harles
Lauan plywood (also known as Luan Plywood) is a commercial term used throughout the United States that typically refers to a 1/8" - 1/4" tropical hardwood plywood panel used for underlayment in flooring, lamination, paper overlay, furniture, and millwork applications