What is the difference between Commercial Plywood and Marine Plywood? Is Marine ply a treated form of commercial plywood or do we have any difference with respect to the ply strength? Is commercial Plywood is similar to Marine Plywood?
Commercial Plywood is typically made by gluing several veneer sheets together. The veneers sheets are manufactured from logs of wood obtained from different tree species. You therefore will find every commercial plywood made from different species of veneer. The veneer species varies with geographical location like you will have Rubber plywood coming from South of India, similarly you have different veneer species from North, East and West oh India.
Where as Marine Plywood is waterproof plywood. The Adhesive used to glue veneers must be waterproof. vacuums are strictly avoided while gluing veneers.
• The face and inside veneers are of best quality veneers.
So we can say the basic difference is that Marine Plywood is a waterproof Plywood as compare to Commercial Plywood.
There are different grades of marine plywood viz. BWP (boiling waterproof) and PF (phenol bonded) plywood. There are few vendors who denote marine or waterproof ply as BWP and PF. So next time when you go to buy marine ply, do not be tangled if you hear BWP and PF plywood.
See Also the differnence Between Marine Plywood, BWR and PF Plywood?