Is one 4×8 sheet of plywood enough for my next project?

Good question!

And the answer is…it depends!

Another good way of looking at this is, how many custom cut pieces of lumber can I get out of one 4×8 sheet of plywood?

Well, the possibilities are endless! It all depends on what you are building, what sizes or cuts you will need, and the quantity…of course. 

At Midtown Lumber we always try to put ourselves in your shoes!

We try to think about our clients who are just starting out with their first DIY home project, and to create tools for our new clients that we wish we had way way way back when we were just starting out. 

We load and unload, cut, and build with 4×8 sheets of plywood all day long, but for those who are less familiar with lumber sizes, dealing in fractions, etc. we hope this blog post will help to simplify things and make the task at hand much less intimidating.

Also, don’t forget…

If you need help choosing the right plywood for your project you might want to start with this post on the differences between Baltic Birch Plywood, Canadian Birch Plywood, and MDF.

Ok! Now that you’ve decided on a material…

A few things, that are important to remember:

1. If you only need one or two pieces for your project you can order exactly what you need without having to buy a full sheet from us!

This is our specialty and something that sets us a part from the rest.

If this sounds like what you need, check out our post on how to order custom cut lumber delivered – in 5 easy steps!

2. If you are still confused or have questions, you can always ask us what we recommend!

In most cases, if you need more than 1/2 a sheet of plywood in total it does make sense to buy the full sheet and pay per cut, instead of per piece. 

3. Keep in mind that when working with a full 4×8 sheet of plywood with each cut on the table saw you lose about 1/8″ of material. You can see what we mean in the diagrams below.

Here are some examples to help you visualize… 

In the first diagram, you can see that if you need a bunch of 6″x6″ squares, you can get a total of (105) 6″x6″ squares out of (1) 4×8 sheet, the last vertical & horizontal row would be scrap, taking into account the 1/8″ of material you lose on each cut. 

The next diagram shows the same thing, but with 12″x12″ squares. You can only get (21) 12″x12″ squares out of a 4×8 sheet because of the scrap. In both these cases we are assuming you need the squares to be exact in size! All of our cutting is accurate to within 1/16″.  

Last but not least…

Now that you understand the basic dimensions of a 4×8 sheet, if you have some graph paper at home and a pencil you can start to sketch out the pieces or cuts you need.

If you don’t have any graph paper handy, we’ve created this guide with 3 full 4×8 sheets for you to print! We hope these diagrams have been helpful, please let us know in the comments below if you need more visuals, and we will absolutely try to provide. 

Ready to order!

Don’t forget you can always just order the pieces that you need! Simply go to our custom cutting order page and tell us what you need. You can also email us any time at info@midtownlumber.com or call 212-675-2230 with any questions.

For more on FAQ’s check out this post, or check out How to Order Custom Cut Lumber for more information on ordering other types of lumber we stock.