12/20
Check for plywood flatness
Don’t expect perfection—you probably won’t find it. Just try to find the best of the pile. Sight down all the edges just like you’d do if you were buying 2×4 studs. Sometimes, plywood sheets are warped in multiple directions, resembling a potato chip. Leave these for some unlucky, less-informed buyer. If you’re buying 1/4-in. plywood, don’t worry about flat and straight; it won’t be either. But you’ll likely fasten it to structural parts, which will keep it flat.
13/20
Inspect the edges
Examine the edges of plywood and inspect the different layers of veneer. They should be straight and of uniform thickness and have few, if any, voids. If you see a lot of voids, there’s sure to be more throughout the sheet that won’t be visible until you cut it.
And avoid overlaps. On high-quality plywood sheets, core veneers are each one piece, or one full layer. But sometimes on less expensive plywood, two or more pieces are used to make up a single layer. Instead of being cut to fit each other where they meet, the edges overlap and are just pressed to the thickness that that piece of core veneer is supposed to be. This can result in an undulating surface.
14/20
Watch for buried treasure
The most beautifully figured face veneers will be at the lumberyard. But when I’m at the home center, I like to check out the back faces of the plywood or even plywood that’s meant for underlayment. Because most people look for consistency of color and grain, there are some striking veneers that get written off as ugly. Quite often, something catches my eye that could be a really cool design element.
