How Thick Is Plywood? - The Expert's Review

Knowing how thick is plywood is important to determine what router bits or other tools are needed before starting a project.

Because plywood is unlike other lumber, each piece has a different thickness that can be found as a stamp on its face. However, being the type of lumber that it is, manufacturers are not often meticulous in their measuring methodologies.

Softwood vs Hardwood Plywood Thickness

Plywood is a manufactured product made from other wood pieces or grains, and this can drastically impact the reality of its size and thickness.

Whether soft or hard, plywood comes in standard sizes between 1/8’’ to 1-1/4’’ in thickness. There are many versions of plywood as well that help determine thickness from Luan to Particle, Baltic to Marine, just to name a few.

More commonly, plywood comes in two forms: softwood and hardwood. These two types are also a factor when it comes the thickness of each piece.

Most softwood plywood is manufactured to be around 1/8 of an inch thick while hardwood is closer to a quarter inch thick. For more information on an example of softwood, see this article on what whitewood is.

Does it Matter How Thick Plywood Is?

Although thickness is an important factor, because of the changeable standards for determining its thickness, the tolerance of the plywood should be taken into consideration as well.

Softwood plywood can be manufactured with a tolerance of either ±0.4mm or ±0.8mm. Hardwood plywood has a much higher tolerance of +0.0 mm, -1.2 mm.

Because the thickness of softwood plywood varies more drastically than hardwood, the tolerance level is also more varied—a fact which should be taken into consideration when purchasing.

How Thick is Plywood, Really?

Although there are discrepancies and variations can occur, standard plywood thickness does have tendencies when the plywood is purchased in standard length and widths.

Here are some good rules of thumb to keep in mind when purchasing plywood:

• Advertised: 3/4’’ thick. In Reality: 23/32’’
• Advertised: 1/2’’ thick. In Reality: 15/32’’
• Advertised: 1/4’’ thick. In Reality: 7/32’’

By using this rule of thumb, gaps and other inconsistencies can be avoided to provide more quality products and less frustration.

I hope you found this post helpful!