Being a newbie, I'm trying to figure out what kind of wood this toy is made of:
My son went nuts over it and I'd like to build one for him. Thanks.
BTW, are there any plans for a toy like this?
Baltic birch, most likely. It is, as you say, a high quality plywood.
Is that 1/2" plywood do you think? I wonder how much a 4x8 sheet of that stuff would cost! $$
it's not significantly more expensive than softwood core birch faced plywood where I buy it (hardwood supplier in Tucson AZ USA).
Between $28 & $34 per sheet at Aura (I think that's the spelling) - but it comes in 5' x 5' sheets which won't fit in the back of a normal sized van (DA saw and staright edge guide. They'll supply an extension cord and power. Work out how you're going to use it (cuts layout) so you know where to cut so it'll fit in your van. OR - bring a pickup truck.
charlie b
4'x8' sheets are *expensive*. Standard size for a "full sheet" of Baltic Birch ply is 5'x5'.
On a per square foot basis, it is *not* all that bad. Particularly not if compared to some of the quality _hardwood_ ply. 1/2" BB will probably be comparable, price-wise, to 3/4" 'furniture grade' softwood ply.
Around here, Baltic birch is sold in 5' x 5' sheets. A 1/4" sheet costs about $27, IIRC.
Aut inveniam viam aut faciam
No, that doesn't look like baltic. Baltic birch is nowhere near that smooth, without one heck of a lot of finish. It looks like standard Birch or Maple or some other faced ply. Baltic has no voids and 11 plys but the surface is not that pretty.
If you can find the right supplier, you can get prefinished Maple that would be perfect for this job. Not sure exactly how to joint the edges to get a clean cube. One idea would be to cut all edges at 45 with a real good panel blade or maybe even a big router bit if you have a good table.
I'd probaly rip squares about a 1/4" overswize in both directions. Then using a sacrifical fence, cut all 4 edges at 45 on the TS leaving it about 1/8" shy of the cutting the top face. Then I'd sneak up to the edge with a big router bit in a few small passes on the router table.
If you were real adventurious you could use a box miter. My brain can get around the 3D geometry to understand if you can do box miters into a cube or not but I think you could.
BW
1/2 inch Baltic Birch. The stuff's not cheap, but great to work with. A 4x8 sheet is $79 here (Boston). See boulterplywood.com for price grid, and if you're local and somehow don't know about this place, well, there you go.....
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