Ace Hardware Store and Plywood

While shopping at Ace Hardware today I saw they are stocking plywood now.
I believe it was the Midwest Brand and I noticed they had balsa sheets too.
The plywood was 1/8" and 1/4" in 18"x24".
Gave me the notion to scratch build in the near future!

I was pleased to see, many months back, they also started selling Stihl and Craftsman tools.
I traded out a broken 1/4" ratchet there.
At the Sears store in town they have to mail it off before you get anything back! I've never liked that store.

JP

My local ACE closed last year, a victim to the Lowe's that opened down the street. I am in luck there's another about 4-5 miles away. I've bought a lot of hardware from them over the years. Problem with Lowe's is I will need 2 bolts or something, not 6...little things like that.

I see that Sears lost 1 Billion (yes, with a capital B) dollars in the last 6 months. Ouch!

https://https://abcnews.go.com/Business/sears-retail-star-losing-1b-months/story?id=25084031

What do most of use to cut your plywoos fins? I was thinking about getting a bench top band saw. I figure that would be adequate.

AfterBurners said:

What do most of use to cut your plywoos fins? I was thinking about getting a bench top band saw. I figure that would be adequate.

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Yep, a band saw but...Be careful what you buy. Be absolutely positive you can get replacement blades when you want them!

I once saw a very nice table top band saw at Lowe's but after about a 1/2 hour of searching with the helpful guy at Lowe's we could not find a replacement blade listed. So I walked away from that one.

Also, get a spare blade or two.

sandman said:

Yep, a band saw but...Be careful what you buy. Be absolutely positive you can get replacement blades when you want them!

Also, get a spare blade or two.

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Any suggestions?

AfterBurners said:

Any suggestions?

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A Delta or the Ryobi is a nice unit.

Also see what different blades are available. Like a 1/8" wide for tight turns but the 1/8 inch break real easy.

1/4" or 3/8".

The 3/8" is wide and good for straight cuts and resawing small pieces, 1/2" if the saw can handle it and it's available is better.

You can buy a bench top scroll saw to do the trick as well, they tend to be cheaper than a band saw and take up less space. I cut all my fins on one for years till I got a band saw, a small chop saw will work great too.

A nice bench top sander is a must. With these two items you can scratch just about any part you need, regardless of which saw you buy I highly recommend the sander. I ran my sander in to the ground, thousand hours or more on it I use it the most for building rockets than any tool in my shop.


TA

Our nearby Ace does'nt carry it, but that would be sweet if they did, since I get a Discount there.

AfterBurners said:

What do most of use to cut your plywoos fins? I was thinking about getting a bench top band saw. I figure that would be adequate.

Click to expand...

A small band saw is a great tool for lots of tasks, but it's hard to get a straight cut of any substantial length. Another option you might consider is a bench-top table saw. You can use double-stick tape to hold fins down to a base board to get cuts that are not parallel the fence. A table saw also makes nice tapers.

You can also use a diamond blade to cut composites (but be careful with the dust).

I use a bench top table saw for the rough cuts, then an old Dremel MotoShop (scroll saw) for the fine cuts. I picked up a bench top belt sander from Horror Freight that does a great job of cleaning edges up.

Our ACE hardware store plywood is always warped but they have a good balsa supply.

I'll have to check out my local ACE store. I hope they care it.

TopRamen said:

Our nearby Ace does'nt carry it, but that would be sweet if they did, since I get a Discount there.

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You could always make a request!

JP