Another birch ply topic

[MattRoberts]

I get BB grade 18mm birch ply from Alsford Timber in West Sussex for about £75 a sheet (Inc vat) , which seems quite pricey to me. Does anyone know of a cheaper alternative supplier in this area? Or alternatively, a place where I could get B/BB for a comparative price?

Or is my current supplier a fair price?

Thanks for any help

 

[Doug71]

I got some 18mm BB birch ply just before Christmas from Arnold Laver, it was £49.20 per sheet inc vat. They were part of a larger order though and I am up north.

Doug

 

[otter]

Creffields. Based in Reading but will offer free delivery to Sussex and Kent if the order is big enough. I think I paid about £38 a sheet for BB last time.

 

[custard]

Creffields. Based in Reading but will offer free delivery to Sussex and Kent if the order is big enough. I think I paid about £38 a sheet for BB last time.

Bet that was a long time ago. That or you ordered a boat load!

Plywood prices have shot up recently. £75 including VAT delivered for small quantities of 18mm BB/B ply isn't that unrepresentative. Hunt around and you might get it for £65 or £70, but if you're happy with the quality and service you're currently getting then it may not be worth the risk. There are plenty of yards who really don't look after their plywood as well as they should, it's often badly stored which can cause bows and ripples, or the edges get chipped, or there are scuffs on the faces, or it was dodgy quality in the first place with excessive thickness variation or too many voids.

You can always trim a bit from material prices if you spend long enough shopping around, but there's often a cost to that strategy in terms of quality and convenience.

 

[otter]

It was a year ago now I look back. But it was £35.50 per sheet.

 

[MattRoberts]

Creffields. Based in Reading but will offer free delivery to Sussex and Kent if the order is big enough. I think I paid about £38 a sheet for BB last time.

Bet that was a long time ago. That or you ordered a boat load!

Plywood prices have shot up recently. £75 including VAT delivered for small quantities of 18mm BB/B ply isn't that unrepresentative. Hunt around and you might get it for £65 or £70, but if you're happy with the quality and service you're currently getting then it may not be worth the risk. There are plenty of yards who really don't look after their plywood as well as they should, it's often badly stored which can cause bows and ripples, or the edges get chipped, or there are scuffs on the faces, or it was dodgy quality in the first place with excessive thickness variation or too many voids.

You can always trim a bit from material prices if you spend long enough shopping around, but there's often a cost to that strategy in terms of quality and convenience.

That's the issue though - this ply I'm getting is BB/CP for £75, and not B/BB.

The quality is fairly good - I got 4 sheets and only one had a plug on the BB face, but I'd be concerned if I were using large surface areas and couldn't avoid including a plug...

 

[MattRoberts]

Creffields. Based in Reading but will offer free delivery to Sussex and Kent if the order is big enough. I think I paid about £38 a sheet for BB last time.

Thanks otter - what was the quality like?

 

[custard]

Creffields. Based in Reading but will offer free delivery to Sussex and Kent if the order is big enough. I think I paid about £38 a sheet for BB last time.

Bet that was a long time ago. That or you ordered a boat load!

Plywood prices have shot up recently. £75 including VAT delivered for small quantities of 18mm BB/B ply isn't that unrepresentative. Hunt around and you might get it for £65 or £70, but if you're happy with the quality and service you're currently getting then it may not be worth the risk. There are plenty of yards who really don't look after their plywood as well as they should, it's often badly stored which can cause bows and ripples, or the edges get chipped, or there are scuffs on the faces, or it was dodgy quality in the first place with excessive thickness variation or too many voids.

You can always trim a bit from material prices if you spend long enough shopping around, but there's often a cost to that strategy in terms of quality and convenience.

That's the issue though - this ply I'm getting is BB/CP for £75, and not B/BB.

The quality is fairly good - I got 4 sheets and only one had a plug on the BB face, but I'd be concerned if I were using large surface areas and couldn't avoid including a plug...

Okay, then you can do better than that. BB grade isn't warranted clear of patches by the way, for that you need S+ or B. I use Timbmet in Poole,

http://www.timbmet.com/uk/products/rang ... h-plywood/

 

[Bodgers]

Creffields. Based in Reading but will offer free delivery to Sussex and Kent if the order is big enough. I think I paid about £38 a sheet for BB last time.

Bet that was a long time ago. That or you ordered a boat load!

Plywood prices have shot up recently. £75 including VAT delivered for small quantities of 18mm BB/B ply isn't that unrepresentative. Hunt around and you might get it for £65 or £70, but if you're happy with the quality and service you're currently getting then it may not be worth the risk. There are plenty of yards who really don't look after their plywood as well as they should, it's often badly stored which can cause bows and ripples, or the edges get chipped, or there are scuffs on the faces, or it was dodgy quality in the first place with excessive thickness variation or too many voids.

You can always trim a bit from material prices if you spend long enough shopping around, but there's often a cost to that strategy in terms of quality and convenience.

That's the issue though - this ply I'm getting is BB/CP for £75, and not B/BB.

The quality is fairly good - I got 4 sheets and only one had a plug on the BB face, but I'd be concerned if I were using large surface areas and couldn't avoid including a plug...

I've bought from Hanson a few times (not near you I know) and last time I bought 12mm BB Latvian for 34+VAT a sheet. Maybe about 18 months ago... I think 18mm was around 50+VAT. Quality is good - a couple of plugs but sheets were undamaged and flat. I have never bought more than a couple of sheets at a time.

So prices aren't too far away.

Decent ply is not cheap I suppose. Recently I resorted to some far Eastern "hardwood" ply for some workshop cab carcasses as I was painting them. The faces were actually fine, but the cores were pretty wavey in places with a fair amount of voids - totally different to BB Birch. 24+ VAT a sheet for 18mm though!





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[MotamJoinery]

I know Travis Perkins, are normally good at sourcing Birch Plywood. I recently got one sheet of BB/CP for £48 from them and its free delivery.

 

[transatlantic]

I know Travis Perkins, are normally good at sourcing Birch Plywood. I recently got one sheet of BB/CP for £48 from them and its free delivery.

I'm just picturing the sheet being dumped on to their truck and getting all scratched? after all, it's a builders merchant and free delivery so you can't really expect otherwise.

Seems it is £130 at the moment https://www.travisperkins.co.uk/Birch-P ... m/p/405017

 

[MattRoberts]

Thanks all for your help