Plywood - QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

When was plywood first developed and what is some background history?

True plywood requires at least three layers of veneer stacked so that the grain alternates 90 degrees. The veneers are cross-layered and joined together by an adhesive.

The 1993 Hardwood Plywood Reference Guide, a publication of the Hardwood Plywood & Veneer Association states that, "in 1830, the piano industry became the first North American industry to use plywood. Wood & Wood Products Magazine's Centennial issue (1996) says that, "in 1890, the rotary cutting process was invented," and as a result of mechanization, plywood became increasingly affordable.
In 1929 a pamphlet published by the National Committee On Wood Utilization noted, "Plywood is a modern term describing an old product which did not receive serious technical and economic consideration until its adaptability to airplane and marine consideration was developed during exhaustive tests at the Forest Products Laboratory."

The word "plywood" which was created in America, received official sanction in dictionaries printed a few years later. That's plywood... veneers on the other hand, dated back to the early Egyptians in the times of the Pharaohs... about 4,000 years ago.