1/2 inch baltic birch plywood

[crazylilting]

I was wondering if any of you have bought this product and where to find it cheaply and consistently.

I used to use it in canada for drawers and jigs ect. It had 13 ply's, was very strong and very flat and only came in 5 foot square panels. I want to build a few jigs and want to get some, but being i'm not in canada i want to make sure i'm buying the same quality item as i was before.

Baltic birch here seems just to be general plywood minus the number of ply's that i'm used to on such a product. Any help on this matter would be appreciated.

 

[Oryxdesign]

You could try S improved from WT Edens. They're not cheap but I think it's about the best available here.

 

[wizer]

that's the rub. In the states\canada, good ply is only marginally more expensive than the cheap crappy stuff. For some reason it's wildly expensive over here. IIRC 18mm S improved birch ply runs somewhere around 60-70 spondoolies. :shock:

 

[head clansman]

hi tom


that something i can never understand £60-70 a sheet, bloody hell , thats daylight robbery, sorry but no way they can justify those sort of prices per sheet .hc :evil: :evil:

 

[crazylilting]

Very frustrating when we have the population density to support better pricing. It wasn't till recently here in north wales that i could find standard birch plywood. It's maddening really.

I think the only way to actually get what we want and need is to open a proper store, nation wide and blow the money grubbing pippers out of the water. Who has that kind of money though? If you've ever been to a home depot in the usa or canada you'd be shocked what is just on the shelves without any special order and for prices that wouldn't make you think twice about trying to buy from a wholesaler.

Here i don't believe there is such thing as a wholesaler. No matter where you go it just seems they want the profit from the job your going to do. It's like real estate here, you don't pay what it's really worth, you pay for what they think it's worth plus a percentage of what it might be worth when you do the work to put it back into good nick. But what you gona do it is what it is and not much can be done about it.

 

[wizer]

I guess there's just not the call for it over here. MDF has been more popular and used for longer in europe.

 

[jasonB]

If you want wholesale prices you will have to buy in wholesale quantities, most of the panel specialists will sell full pallets at around 35-40% less than individual boards.

The Latvian is not too bad but the s-improved is better particularly if the face will show.

Jason

 

[crazylilting]

I usually buy 20 at a time. But i wouldn't need 20 sheets of this particular plywood. I'd buy more at a time if i had more room to stock it. might be worth renting storage space...

Where do you get this 35-40% off?

 

[jasonB]

Take for example Edens that have already been mentioned

18mm S-improved
£100-250 order value £82.63
£250-500 order value £65.58 thats 25% less
£500 and over or pallet rate POA but expect at least another 10-15%

All the panel suppliers offer similar terms, see my reply in the 1.2x2.4 plywood post for some suppliers. Once you get to know a supplier and stick with them you will likely get pallet rate for split loads as long as you place a reasonably sized order, at least I do

Jason

 

[Jake]

That I assume is for Finnish?

In the states, they include Russian stuff as Baltic Birch - and even Chinese produced from Russian logs.

Like for like I doubt the price comparison is as bad as it seems.

 

[jasonB]

Yes thats Finnish but with the S-Improved surface not B, thats special order (and special price no doubt)

Jason

 

[crazylilting]

I can't tell if Edens has what i'm looking for. They have baltic birch however they don't specify how many lamination it has. I'll give them a call tomorrow. I noticed on the plywood used on my woodrat looks like baltic birch however it doesn't seem to have 13 ply's only 7, so i want to make sure that i'm getting the right stuff.

To be honest i have no idea where the plywood came from in canada. I bought it from a place called smith plywoods. A specialized supplier, so perhaps they made it themselves and may not be able to buy it here at all.

The grading is different here as well. I once saw on ebay someone selling laminated pine boards from quebec canada which he was calling the best quality and yet it was graded D. Which in canada is considered defective. I had a good chuckle as he was probably buying this D grade rubbish buy the container load and passing it off as What in canada we would call A grade.

 

[wizer]

That I assume is for Finnish?

In the states, they include Russian stuff as Baltic Birch - and even Chinese produced from Russian logs.

Like for like I doubt the price comparison is as bad as it seems.

I just asked Marc (TheWoodWhisperer) what he paid for the ply he used on his current project. It's the 13 ply Finnish stuff that the OP is talking about. He said it was $45 for a 5'x5' sheet. I'm not intelligent enough to work that out...

 

[crazylilting]

Thanks Wizer,

Do you know where he bought it from? I'd like to build a mortising jig for my woodrat. Have some to cut in a couple of weeks. If not i'll PM him.

Thanks

 

[petermillard]

$45 USD = approx £27.50, 5' x 5' = approx 2.33 sq m, so roughly £11.80 per sq m, compared to the £22-ish /sq m that JasonB is quoting on a mid-range (£250-500) order. Don't know if VAT is included in those prices.

Not cheap. And the last time I looked, Finland was a lot closer to the UK than the US...

Pete

 

[wizer]

He's in the states. I was trying to work out the difference between US and UK prices.

 

[Jake]

I just asked Marc (TheWoodWhisperer) what he paid for the ply he used on his current project. It's the 13 ply Finnish stuff that the OP is talking about. He said it was $45 for a 5'x5' sheet. I'm not intelligent enough to work that out...

What grade?

The OP is talking about Baltic, not Finnish, by the way.

 

[wizer]

It's the same over there Jake. He actually calls is Baltic and then the text on the screen suggests Finnish is the same. He doesn't state the grade. But from the video, it's 13 plys and near flawless.

 

[Jake]

I used to use it in canada for drawers and jigs ect. It had 13 ply's, was very strong and very flat and only came in 5 foot square panels.

European birch plywood would be 9 ply at 1/2", 13 would be 3/4".

 

[gasmansteve]

Hi CL
I just got some 6mm birch ply from here www.laver.co.uk/hull.asp (The Hull branch) and glued pieces together to make 12mm (1/2"?) for the gears on the wooden clock I`m building. After much browsing online before I found some in the UK every supplier seems to give a blank look when you mention Baltic birch, apparantly the good stuff for toy makers and such like is `Birch throughout` ply unlike just Birch faced.I bought two pieces 5ft x 5ft for £8 each all they had at the time and I got a discount because they had slight marks on them but they can get more, not sure if that helps?.
Cheers
Steve