Hello all, I saw some 3/4" birch plywood at the borg that has 14 plys. The veneer has good figure and would be OK for a cabinet carcase. Problem is that they only have 2'X4' pieces, about $15.00 each. It doesn't look like Baltic Birch, but I could be wrong on that. Anybody know what this stuff is? Thanks.
I'm not sure what it is either, but it is made by GP. I purchased about 5 -
2'x4' pieces about a year ago to use for jigs, it has been great. As good as any Baltic Birch that I paid much more for.Gary
One of the HDs in my area carries Birch & Red Oak 3/4"x4'x8' panels for about $40. Also, 1/4" x 4'x8' for less than $20.
So ask about the larger sizes, they may surprise you and be able to get it.
Ron
Doesn't all plywood have odd plys?
I thought so too until I counted again. Yes, 14 ply.
I have purchased birch faced plywood from the borg and used it for some shop cabinets. I believe it was $40 for a 4x8 sheet. It is not cabinet grade, meaning there will be some areas with voids. I also used it to build a couple projects for the house and edged it with cherry. It looks nice with an oil based polyuerethane finish on it.
I have also seen blondwood faced plywood at the borg but never tried it.
Frank
I used some Oak ply from Lowes and never did find a void. edge banded in oak and looked great.
I also have seen the blondewood but did not like the look of it. looked too "coarse" to finish very well.
BRuce
Frank Ketchum wrote:
Me too, just be careful with that sand paper. The "oak" is about 3 microns thick and you can sand it off pretty easy
Should, but it doesn't always. With 14 pliess it really doesn't matter.
On the other hand, the 3/4" fir CD that I bought the other day - only 4 plies - is real crap. The two center plies run in the 4' direction, and the two outer plies in the long direction. Has a real nice curve to it.
John Martin
It's not Baltic Birch, but just as good, IMHO. The 4x8 sheets have alot fewer plys, and aren't as good for jigs, etc., but good for cabinet use. I'd love to see the larger sheets in 14 plys.
tt
I got some of that 48x60 5-ply 1/4" stuff from a GP-wrapped stack at Menards, only to find a cheap-looking purple stamp on some sheets with an unmistakable Cyrillic "F-A" an abbreviation for factory (fabrika), and the factory number. They used the same crummy ink and nomenclature on everything during the Soviet days. I believe you may have Russian stuff made on old Finnish equipment, sold by a US manufacturer. Or perhaps they buy the veneers overseas and laminate here.
At any rate, the stuff was peeled white birch veneer, seems to display pretty well, and is reasonably priced.
Interesting note - in Soviet days they not only stamped on manufacturer information, but price, at the factory.
yep, fount that out too. :-( fortunatly the area in question was easily masked and the color adjusted to match.
BRuce
Well, perhaps Mongolian - if there are any trees there - where they used Cyrillic, but certainly _not_ Chinese on this stuff.
Saw some the other day at a Canadian HD. The sticky label said it was Russian Birch -- which translated means Baltic Birch.
I recently bought a couple of 1/4 sheets of 3/4" birch ply at the BORG to make a bandsaw table. At a cursory glance (which was all I gave it at the store) it looked like Baltic Birch or something similar. On closer inspection once I'd gotten it home, I was amazed to find that the inner plies were not uniform thickness. Not that seperate plies were different thicknesses, but EACH ply varied in thickness. I can't even picture what process could have produced these plies. Also, they must have to put a hell of a lot of pressure on the finished sheet to get it to come out flat, 'cause it is definitely flat. Still, I think it'll work out fine for what I bought it for... it's just really wierd stuff! Bruce
BTW
The local HD has begun carrying Sande (A Central American hardood that looks a bit like blond Mahogany) plywood. Hechingers used to carry it.
I found the half-inch stacked under a stack of birch plywoood. The Sande had 7 plys fairly thick face veneers, and all the plys look to be Sande. The birch had 5 plys, extemely thin face veneers, and the interior plys were poplar. The Sande was noticeable lighter and much stiffer.
So, apologizing in advance for possibly insulting you on your ability to recognize wood species, are you sure the 14 ply sheets were birch?
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