Backyard Renegade wrote:
....snip...

Ahhh, your guess makes more sense based on his origional
discription...

Not a 'guess' ... :-)
Several years in the Doug Fir plywood indy ... QC function ...
MS in Wood Tech too ...



I was thinking the wood was more swolen there because
of a void behind it, I did not think about overlapping.

:-)
Core "Voids" are yet another consideration ...


Still all in all sounds cosmetic.

- Core Laps -
Sorry ... not 'so', at all.

In a sanded panel ...
it seriously degrades the bending modulus along(with) the face_ply
grain...

'Fresh' out of the hot press ... hard to visually see

In sanded panels , a bit easier to 'see' ...
*if* you're familiar with samded face_ply wood 'grain' patterns .
Some core-laps in sanded 3/4" cause the face-ply to be
sanded =entirely= thru ...
primarily due to the 'construction' ...
face/back = 1/8" ven
2 cross plies, 1 center ply = all of 3/16" ven
ttl = 5 plies ; 13/16" +\-
Envision a laped 3/16" cross ply going thru a sander .

Most scarfed panels are =rigorously= inspected along the panel edge
for just such 'defect' ... panels are rejected =prior= to scarfing ...

Perhaps an 'exception' mite be un_sanded sheathing grades ...

Floor underlayment is not an exception ... esp "PTS" grades

HTH