Messing around with plywood - smoothness?

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JHZR2

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NOT Baltic Birch, or even the fancy super-sanded stuff from HD. It was over a year ago that I bought this, so I don't recall exactly the grade, but its pretty smooth on one side, slightly less on the other... AB maybe? No repairs, minimal knots, overall pretty good.

Im just making simple boxes like for plyometrics. Ill try various oil finishes on some parts just to experiment....

But I figured Id try to get the surface a bit smoother. I can rub my hand on it smooth, and no have any risk of splinters or whatnot... But I want a little more smoothness. I was going to sand the sequence with 80-180 or 220, and then finish with an RO at 220.

But is this even salvageable? Ive seen mixed discussions about plywood - no sanding, spackle or bond the surface and sand that, etc...

0C253A80-874C-4151-A1ED-F2633ECDAD5A_zpsuatcezti.jpg


E38DB937-4E29-4488-921F-147D97A32DCA_zpsppli1oml.jpg


24560E9F-8589-4C58-A718-7D8D99A82D01_zpszro0djbq.jpg


Will those below the surface voids be salvageable? Im guessing its just something to live with given that I didn't buy a fancy type of plywood...

I think even 60 or less grit and an aggressive rotating sander might be quite a job.

Am I wrong in thinking this? It is what it is, even with the smoother box store plywood?
 
It looks pretty good to me. The 80 to 180 sequence will be good. If some of the voids are too deep to sand out, cover them with DAP Crackshot or Rustoleum Ready Patch.
 
The second and third picture show them better. Id say none is more than 1/16 or 3/32" deep, but can be inches long. Nothing snags my hand after 80 grit kn a half sheet sander with festool vac.
 
And im not opposed to filling if thats best practice. Perfume on a pig is often silly, but Im generally learning here...
 
Getting alittle off topic here, but;

If you look at some sheets of plywood, you see the same knot pattern repeating.
Reason for this is:
When the Manufacturer makes the plywood, the Logs are held between centers (like on a Wood Lathe).
As the Log is slowly rotated, a knife blade continuously feeds in and unravels the log.
Any knot patterns will keep repeating as the log completes (1) revolution.

You can also determine at what diameter the tree was for that sheet of plywood.
Just take a flexible Tape Measure and measure from one Knot to its duplicate.
Example: knots spaced 12" apart would be about 3 1/2" diameter tree trunk.
 
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