I think you may have the screw holding thing backward. I would think this material is a replacement for regular MDF where you need a screw holding improvement. In my experience, I've found nothing worse at screw holding than MDF (except maybe masonite, which may be LDF) since it has no grain, and nothing better than plywood since the grain changes direction with every ply.
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It is often tough to find good lumber- check an independent lumberyard sometimes their stuff is better. Generally if you scrounge enough you can find some straight ones even at Lowes and HD.
I think that's it - the Columbia product is exactly it, plus Columbia lists the palce I was at as a distributor in my area. The other interesting thing is that according to their map, the veneer cores used by Columbia in my part of the country are poplar.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Why not just go with pine 1x4's, if you look though the piles you can ussually find all the straight ones you need, even at Lowes. Just did all my benchwork with Lowes stuff. If you ask you can find when a new load comes in.
I believe what Randy is describing is a form of what is known as combined core plywood. So far I have found a couple of wholesale sources, Mount Baker Plywood and Columbia Forest Products. Perhaps they are both high end for the big box stores.
Dave Nelson
MDF by itself, I think would sag too much, ANd it's not really suitable to build structural members with - as in cutting out joists and risers. I once built a shelf laout years ago where I used some ssort of manufacturerd material that was even heavier than MDF, and a lot more solid - hard to drive nails into even. But strong - I didn;t need a whole sheet but that's how it was sold, so I had it cut up to carry (plus I lived in an apartment) and above the layout put a shelf to hold all my boosk and magazines - a very heavy load and absolutely NO sagging. I gues it would be HDF. I haven't seen the same thing available in years. Talk about heavy though - even the 1x6 shelf was quite heavy.
This stuff seems to combine the features of MDF and plywood - MDF smoothness, plywood stiffness. They also have fancy versions of this stuff available (which is VERY expensive) with a hardwood veneer applied on top of the MDF. Don't need that for a layout, but it certainly is a different way to build furniture. They don;t skimp on the veneer on this, it's not so thin that pressing a bit too hard when sanding will go right through it, which is probably why it costs so much.
Thanks, Randy. Sounds like new methods await us with this. I surely agree about the lousy plywood available lately. The last stuff I looked at was just what you described......large filled divits and poorly made especially for the price.
MDF is good stuff if you can carry it! I lived in Scum City for many years and built a new layout after another hurricane. Plywood was not available so I chose MDF. It was easy to work with and strong and smooth. It was also heavy and made lots of dust when cutting. This MDF sandwich material may cure some issues with using it.
Thanks, again, Randy!
oldline1
I went to a local plywood distributor today to check out what they had, since everything at the box stores is pretty much garbage. They do have some godo quality stuff, for not much more than the junk at Lowes - all veneer core, few if any voids, and the ones that are present in some sheets are small, not hunge chunks missing like the stuff I looked at at Lowes. They do have various import hardwood stuff, but the 13 ply all veneer baltic birch only comes in 5x5 sheets. This actually might be fine for the support structure, where no element would exceed 5'. They have some nice smooth plain plywood as well.
The new thing they showed me, is typically sold for signs, and is designed to have really excellent screw holding in the face. It's faced on both sides with a layer of MDF, with standard wood plies in between. They gave me a small piece as a sample, so when I get home I can post a picture of it. Being MDF on the surfae, it's perfectly smooth - seems ideal for subroadbed. If the screw holding is what they calaim, it would be fine for the whole thing, if I use the corner brackets, since I would be only attaching things to the face and not edge nailing anything, this might be useful.
First time I've ever seen something like this, not something found in the box stores, for sure.