The furniture industry has moved to CNC milled Plywood for a variety of reasons, including a lack of skilled woodworkers, a desire for higher levels of accuracy in cutting measurements, strength of construction (solid wood can have fault lines in the grain) and so on. There is a lot of pushback from consumers on plywood, but the truth of the matter is if you use the right plywood, the frame is actually stronger in most areas, depending on the engineering. Most frames at the higher end levels will be hybrids of both plywood and solid wood where the solid is superior.
When people hear "plywood" they think of 5/8" Sheathing plywood from Home Depot / Lowes (16mm thick). The furniture industry does not use that, and to that end I requested samples from my primary suppliers, and apparently am the first dealer to ever ask any of them! So here's what I have so far (still waiting on one from Taylor King). As you can see, this is a complex product. Without question the best of this group is the Hancock and Moore - Jessica Charles which is Birch-faced, very smooth and the thickest at 23mm. Century is slightly less thick and the face layers not quite as nice as the H&M Birch, and Bradington Young, while substantial, is more crude than the other two. See for yourself - because the more you know - the more you know.
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