birch ply for bed or other wood

G-Man

I was going to make a contemporaary bed frame from birch ply .. .. mainly the ends and the external rails, internal bits could be anything available.

Is there an issue with formaldehyde emissions in a bedroom..

If i was to not use birch ply and use regular wood what is a good choice - ash or american oak.

Intention is to build two single beds and bunk them with a suitable fastener so ends should be strong with good stability overall.

Zebbedee

G-Man wrote: »

Is there an issue with formaldehyde emissions in a bedroom..

Where would formaldehyde be coming from?
If you mean formaldehyde emissions from oil based varnish curing that would be gone in a week or so.

G-Man

Zebbedee wrote: »

Where would formaldehyde be coming from?
If you mean formaldehyde emissions from oil based varnish curing that would be gone in a week or so.

I thought the ply was bonded with some sort of glues....and they would be slowly gassing off for a long time......

Maybe i am wrong.... quite confident to go ahead now. .. thanks

the_pen_turner

i don't know about birch ply but mdf is lethal stuff for formaldehyde

recipio

Ply is known to emit VOC s including formaldehyde. Apparently the only answer is to seal it with polyurethane and the gasses dissipate with time. It would certainly be a lot less expensive than using hardwoods - do you intend glueing 19mm ply together to get the upright posts ? I've made a few beds and assuming you are going to use knock down fittings of some kind, metal dowels with screw in bolts are by far superior to the other 'clip together ' systems.