plywood dominoes

[Nigel]

Hi folks,
            Any reason not to make dominoes from plywood apart from the obvious that you can't get metric ply in the states.Seems they would be strong and ready thicknessed.A bit smooth maybe but that could be fettled.A cunning plan?
Nigel.

 

[Frank Pellow]

I have observed that, these days, the thickness of most plywood is neither Metric nor Imperial -not if you want round numbers, that is.

 

[AlexThePalex]

that you can't get metric ply in the states.

We got metric plywood in Europe? I'm with Frank.

Anyway, plywood seems ....... a bit inferior to me, for tenons. I wouldn't use it.

 

[Frank Pellow]

I do not have a Domino, but I have made loose tenons out of (approximately) /12 mm thick Baltic birch plywood.  They seamed to work quite well.

 

[Nigel]

Hi Alex and Frank,
         

We got metric plywood in Europe? I'm with Frank.

Anyway, plywood seems ....... a bit inferior to me, for tenons. I wouldn't use it.

I have observed that, these days, the thickness of most plywood is neither Metric nor Imperial -not if you want round numbers, that is.

I have some "10mm" ply that is 9.7mm,seems ideal for 10mm dominoes.Maybe it's a Chinese measurement.
Alex,Why inferior?

 

[AlexThePalex]

Alex,Why inferior?

Because of the way the wood grain runs. In solid wood the grains all run in one direction. In plywood they run in two crossed directions. Wood is strong in the direction of the grain but not so strong in the cross direction. Depending on the number of layers in plywood you can lose a lot of strength. If a joint is under a lot of stress, a plywood tenon will probably give away sooner than a solid wood tenon.

 

[James Watriss]

I can think of several reasons...

-Plywood isn't as strong, as observed.
-Plywood would be very likely to blow out in the machinery they use to cut the dominoes... I'm imagining that it's some sort of large shaper, before cutting to length and pressing. Sometimes shapers and routers work on plywood. But when they don't, it'll just jam up the line, slow things down and increase cost.
-Plywood simply costs more. Getting wood directly from a tree versus Having someone else get the wood, tear it apart, re-glue it all back together, and then sell and ship it to Festool... plain wood will win out on price every time.

I think I get the argument, that plywood seems like it might be cheaper. But my guess is, dramatically not.

 

[Nigel]

James,I really meant homemade not Fesmade.Like rip some 10mm ply, run it past a bullnose router bit et voila.To me thats cheap.Seemed like a good idea at the time!

 

[Loren Hedahl]

James,I really meant homemade not Fesmade.Like rip some 10mm ply, run it past a bullnose router bit et voila.To me thats cheap.Seemed like a good idea at the time!

Why not?  Give it a try!  You've got my OK!

I might just try it myself, if you don't mind.

Not sure exactly how I would run it through a router, though  --  but I'm sure there is a way that is effective and safe.  Probably a table mounted router with a grooved board to retain the strip as is goes past the bullnose bit.

A rainy afternoon would produce enough to last me long enough that there would still be some to inherit, if a box of home made dominoes would be an inheritable item.  Just don't know!