Red Oak Plywood (with soft veneer core) - B4 Description Our red oak plywood has two oak veneer faces and a softwood veneer core (usually pine, fire, or spruce, but sometimes poplar). This is a North American product and like most softwood plywood, the edge may have some voids in it, so the edges are not typically left exposed. This plywood is sometimes called furniture-grade plywood, and although that term does not always correspond to a specific grade, one face is very nice and can be finished to result in a professional-quality surface. Specifications and Dimensions The outer veneers on red oak plywood are quite thin, typically 0.010-0.020in (0.25-0.50mm) and the inner layers of veneer relatively thick, typically 0.125-0.150in (3mm+). This plywood comes in nominal fractional inch thicknesses (1/8, 1/4, and so forth), but the thickness is always about 1/32in less than the nominal, or 0.094in for 1/8 nominal  0.219in for 1/4 nominal.  Like all plywood, the faces are graded for quality. Our red oak ply is B4, which means the better side is grade B and the worse side is grade 4 (the backside for this type of plywood is graded 1-5, with 1 best). The B side is beautiful, with no knots or patches. The backside is usually very nice, but will usually have a few pin knots, some color variation, and perhaps a “football” patch. Typically you design your object such that the “4” face is on the backside or inside of an assembled object. You can finish red oak ply like any hardwood. We like the wipe-on Minwax polyurethane. Sand first, and then apply thin coats, with light sanding between applications. Red oak plywood is essentially the same density as softwood plywood because the veneer core is mostly softwood. Density runs about 570 kg/m3 or 0.021 lb/in3.