Plywood!

[Gary Beasley]

At the Georgia IAP meet last week we had a pen swap and I was paired with Gary Hughes, who had the brilliant idea of using some plywood he had to make a pen. The execution was great and I decided to try some plywood for myself using some plywood from work used for diecutting dies. I glued two layers up then cut the strip at 30 degree diagonals and reglued into a chevron pattern. My wood wasn't as striking a color as Hughes' was but I think it looks pretty interesting.

 

[razor524]

That is pretty interesting looking!

 

[Atherton Pens]

Interesting idea for segmenting plywood!
Actually my "plywood" is Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) which is a product used in structural applications. LVL differs from plywood in that all the veneers run the same direction where plywood is cross laminated.
LVL is made from plywood veneers and all the veneers are ultrasonically graded to choose very dense wood for it's strength. The piece I used for the pen swap is made from southern pine veneers. Here are pictures of a similar pen with the segmented LVL.
BTW, I've had many favorable comments on the spalted sweet gum cigar I received in the swap.
Thanks for making such a great pen!

 

[Jgrden]

Very attractive, Gary.

 

[jskeen]

Lvl is great stuff to play around with. It's suprisingly uniform in density, turns pretty well, and has a lot fewer voids in the layers. It's very common in dumpsters around construction sites. The earlier in the framing process you go dumpster diving, the less stuff you have to move to get to the pieces, I've found, as the lvl beams go up almost as soon as the concrete crew leaves.

LVL is a generic term, like refrigerator. Parallam is a brand name, like fridigair, and is the best for turning, from what I've found. But there are different grades and materials even within a particular brand. It's a crapshoot, but at least the ante is nice and low

 

[PenMan1]

Never really thought much about LVL, but the Parallem plant is just outside of Athens, GA. The plant is only about 35 miles from me and I know those guys. I think I'll go get some scraps.

 

[boxerman]

A cool looking pen.

 

[Drstrangefart]

And that's why I head for his house whenever I need a good old-fashioned schooling. Well done, Dad!

 

[jkirkb94]

Great looking pen! I will have to try using some plywood now. ;-)

 

[Stick Rounder]

Have any of you tried the seven layer birch plywood? Just asking.

 

[ctubbs]

Two pens by two Garys with two ideas, both of which produced beautiful pens. Congratulations to you both.
Charles

 

[Gary Beasley]

Have any of you tried the seven layer birch plywood? Just asking.

Actually I think that is seven layer birch I used. The diemakers use the highest quality ply for making the diecutting dies for dimensional stability and strength. This stuff is way better than construction grade.

 

[Super Dave]

Great looking pens, I never thought to use plywood. Very creative.

Dave