FOUND: Baltic Birch in South Jersey

Salutations,

Not sure how many here reside in Southern New Jersey these days, but here goes...

I happened upon a source for Baltic birch plywood last weekend. I have never used the stuff before because I can never find it. I bought a few sheets of 1/2" (12mm) and 3/4" (18mm) and the material seems to be very nice. I haven't found any voids, the laminations are thin and even, and the face sides have some lovely figure.

If you are looking for this stuff, I found it at Mr. Robert's Lumber in Barrington. They have a website with all the contact information. Here it is:

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Reply to
Howard Ruttan
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My supplier of Baltic Birch in NW Ohio is Homestead Hardwoods near Vickery, Ohio.

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419-684-9582

Reply to
Joe_Stein (formerly KB8QLR)

A place called Aura Hardwoods in San Jose usually has it, the sheets are an odd size but it looks good. Alan Black

Reply to
Alan Black

What's the price for 1/2" sheet of 5' x 5' baltic birch going for?

Roland

Reply to
Roland Hart

ApplyPly is the 'Murican version, if you're feeling especially patriotic (or isolationist?).

Also - much to my surprise, I saw a *real* 4x8 sheet of 3/4" Baltic Birch @ Austin Hardwood, here in Denver. Kind'a like the elusive Snipe Bird -- fun to actually find one.

Reply to
mttt

I'm paying around $25 for 1/2" and about $40 for 3/4" but I'm in the "boonies" with no competition at the local lumber year. The nearest HD is an hour away in the winter. Now that the tourists are here it's not a trip I'd even consider.

RB

Roland Hart wrote:

Reply to
RB

what do you mean by "odd", Alan? I shop there and it comes in 5x5 sheets.

dave

Alan Black wrote:

Reply to
Bay Area Dave

An oversight. My apologies. 1/2 inch was around $25 (I don't recall the cents off hand) and the 3/4 inch was around $50.

And to the poster who commented about Appleply; I have never been able to find anyone who carries it, and I have been phoning and visiting stores inquiring about it for a couple years. If anyone in South Jersey knows where to get it, please post.

Reply to
Howard Ruttan
3/4 @ $50? I got mine for $38 plus tax. Cheers. Joe

Reply to
Joe_Stein (formerly KB8QLR)

Appleply, American as Apple Pie. Basically, American made Baltic Birch.

Reply to
Leon

The manufacturer has a retailer directory

--plug in your zip code and it will tell you the retailers nearby. IIRC there were several in New Jersey.

Reply to
J. Clarke

and

Been there, done that, ain't worth.... It angers me somewhat that manufacturers automatically assume a retailer they supply carries their entire line of products. I have found that to be true in most cases when I try to research some of the interesting (to me anyway) products I see talked about. If you phone any of those phone numbers in NJ, of which there aren't that many in my opinion, their response is always, "we don't carry that," or "huh?" The manufacturer, when confronted with that information - in the nicest possible way, of course - has nothing to say.

Thanks all the same for trying to help. Everyone's assistance is much appreciated. I'm fine with the Baltic birch I have for now and they have more should I require it. I usually don't use plywood anyway.

Reply to
Howard Ruttan

Have tried to use that directory for ApplePly, and it is essentially worthless. Called several folks on the list, many numbers NOT working, and those that I did get thru to basically said they had NEVER HEARD of the product

Findally called StatesInd voice and was finally given a a contact to someone who actually stocks the stuff, 300miles away

As far as I can tell, the ONLY real difference between ApplePly is that it comes in 4x8 or 4x10 sheets compared to the 5x5 Baltic/Finnish Birch

John

Reply to
John

IIRC, Appleply has alder core veneers and birch face veneers.

Reply to
bridger

I _won't_ call you a liar, but, apparently, you didn't do it right. Because States' search does let you specify which kind of product you're looking for. And has a category *exclusively* for Appleply.

Querying *specificly* for Appleply, comes up with TWO entries within New Jersey.

Atlantic Plywood, in Rutherford, and Fessenden Hall, Inc in Pennsauken.

An _intelligent_ customer then asks: "Can you special-order it?"

Last time I was on one of those hunts, I needed some A-1 1/2" mahogany ply. 5 minutes on the web, and 2 phone calls later, I was headed to my local lumber yard (who's website I had -not- visited, and whom I had

*not* called).

I walked in, went up to the desk, and said "I need some A-1 1/2" mahogany ply." He replied: "We only have B3.". My rejoinder: "you can order it from So-and-So, your account rep is Tim S******. He is expecting your call."

The distributer had a web-site, and also sold direct, but there would have been a fair-sized delivery charge (from the next state), since I only needed like 3 sheets, (as I found out, when I called for pricing -- _what_ they carried was on the site, but pricing was -not-; reasonable for a wholesaler) Not to mention the difficulty of unloading from a semi-trailer, at a condo building on a busy thoroughfare.

I then asked the *very*helpful* salesman if they dealt with any local yards, and the guy rattled off several names in town. One of which was right in my neighborhood. Turned out *he* was the sales rep for _that_ account, as it happened. Said they didn't buy a lot from them, but did have an account.

I *DID* rather take the guys at the yard by surprise. I had down exactly what I wanted, what supplier they were to get it from, *and* the supplier's 'part number'. and it was "I don't care what you can get that's 'close' from some other supplier, I want *this* item, from _this_ distributer." They remembered who was paying the bills, and got it for me.

Reply to
Robert Bonomi

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