A Trip to the Plywood Factory

The other day I received an email blast from one of the big box stores touting a particular brand of hardwood plywood. I can't vouch for its quality because I haven't used it, but I like that it's made in the USA (most plywood is from China, Canada, and other countries with forest industries). What's more – I found a video of the production process and it's pretty cool.

If you like knowing where the materials you build with come from then this is definitely worth watching: In 3-1/2 minutes you can see every step from log to finished product. You can avoid the boring intro by skipping ahead to the 30 second mark.

Archived Comments

It is not clear these plywood panels are made in the USA. The video says "made in North America" and that includes Canada.

"Made in North America" may apply to the manufacturing company as a whole - not this particular plant. The sign at the beginning of the video says "Old Fort, North Carolina". Of course that doesn't prove they shot it there - but if you open Google Earth and search under the manufacturer's Old Fort address (369 Columbia Carolina Road, Old Fort, NC 28762) you'll see a manufacturing plant with acres of logs and giant piles of bark surrounding it.