Manufacturer documentation checked 3 October 2026. Named manufacturer documentation; the offered market and exact item require separate confirmation. No hands-on test is reported.

The grade belongs to a face, not to a vague quality adjective

Garnica’s April 2026 Efficiency Poplar appearance document describes B and BB faces separately. As one example, its listed knot allowance is up to two per square metre for B and fourteen for BB, with the stated size condition. Its photographs illustrate variability in particular batches rather than guarantee the appearance of another batch. This makes the document useful for discussing a visible surface, but not for promising a flawless sheet based on a catalogue image.

A cabinet project with one exposed face and one hidden face has a different appearance question from a freestanding piece seen from both sides. The useful starting point is to mark the visible faces in the project brief. A generic instruction to buy good plywood leaves the supplier to guess what that adjective means. A named face grade and a visibility description provide a much clearer conversation.

Keep the pair of grades in order

When an offer includes a paired face description, preserve the complete pair and ask which supplied face corresponds to each part of the description. Do not rewrite it as one grade throughout the quotation comparison. If both faces are exposed in the intended furniture, make that explicit. The proposed use may need a different appearance decision even when the panel’s other fields remain the same.

Counting a few knots in a product photograph is not a substitute for reading the grading criteria or inspecting the offered material. A photograph may show an example that fits the grade without showing its entire range. Nor does a visual grade alone certify machining quality, dimensional precision or mechanical suitability for the finished design. Keep those questions outside an appearance comparison unless separate evidence has been obtained.

Describe what would actually cause a problem

For furniture left visually exposed, a buyer might care about a prominent feature near the focal area. Write that concern in the brief and ask what selection or sampling evidence is available. Do not invent a guarantee that a standard grade will place every natural feature outside that area. If a decorative covering is planned instead, say so; the important appearance question may shift to the requirements of the covering rather than raw wood uniformity.

A useful acceptance record identifies the actual product, grade pair, thickness and supplied face being considered. It can include labelled photographs of the offered panel, but it should not imply that every future delivery will repeat that photograph. Recording the decision with its evidence is more valuable than retaining an unlabelled inspiration image whose source and face grade cannot later be reconstructed.

Read a current source without inventing a purchase promise

The dated grading document gives a specific basis for discussion, not live regional stock information or a price. No sheet has been physically inspected by Oodworking for this article. Local availability, exact supplied format and project-specific acceptance remain unverified. If a seller’s description cannot be connected to the named grade and product, mark the connection "not independently verified for this article" and resolve it before treating the quotation as comparable.

Evidence boundaries

Appearance document only, not independent inspection, live supply, mechanical approval or batch guarantee.

• Primary document 1

Oodworking workshop guides

For related product-document comparisons, see our Buying Guides archive.