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Brilliant Trick for Carrying Full Sheets of Plywood

By Rain Noe - May 14, 2018

in Tools & Craft

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Soon I'll be moving house, from city to country. Here in the city, I live 3.5 blocks from the nearest lumberyard; if I need 4x8 sheets of plywood, I make a phone call, go about my business and they'll later drop off in front of my door. But I have investigated the rural location and the nearest lumberyard is a 25-minute drive, meaning delivery is presumably prohibitively expensive. So I'd have to pick up myself, a minimum time commitment of one-hour-plus.

Which begs the question, ought I bring my considerable stash of raw materials with me on the move? Which then got me thinking, what's the best way to carry a plywood? Probably the clever Gorilla Gripper ($30) or Handle on Demand ($11), both of which we wrote about here. (Note that the HOD, however, only works on sealed sheets of plywood.)

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The Gorilla Gripper seems a worthwhile purchase…unless you stumble upon this clever trick, as I just did:

Illustration by Narda Lebo / This Old House

That tip, which comes from This Old House, calls for a length of rope 18 to 20 feet in length. I'd say it's ergonomically inferior to the Gorilla Gripper--the rope trick requires you use your non-carrying hand to steady the sheet--but it is cheaper, particularly if you've already got rope lying around (and I do). I'll probably try both methods and report back to you.

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Joshua Bloom

6 years ago

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You could also just go old school carpenter and use the underside of your claw hammer to hold the sheet. Like this guy:

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- Flo Peters
  
  Joshua Bloom
  
  6 years ago
  
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  This is great :D
  
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Alex Netz

6 years ago

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I own the original gorilla gripper, the one made of steel not nylon, and its a fantastic tool. I used it to carry 1/2 thick hdpe sheet weighting 80lb, and because of the design it was surprizingly easy. Thanks to The cantilever design, the heavier the sheet the better the grip. Expensive but well worth the money

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P Z

6 years ago

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This makes the 3rd or 4th time I've seen those locking suction cup handles marketed for different things. One was shower handles for elderly or disabled people, another was similar but significantly more nsfw.

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Kyle Lamson

6 years ago

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Seems like something along the lines of the rope trick with a webbing tie-down would have an easily adjustable length for different sheet cut sizes, as well as be a bit easier on the hands than narrower rope might be.

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Allen Matsumoto

6 years ago

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Or this, which works really well for someone with average arm length: https://www.amazon.com/Stanley-93-301-14-Inch-Yellow-Handle/dp/B00004UDN8?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-ipad-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00004UDN8

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