Best Birch plywood supplier???

[Nedsss]

I need to find the cheapest best quality supplier for Birch plywood 18mm 1220x2440 BB/BB or B/BB, any recommendations? Ideally they should be able to deliver to Cambridge.

The cheapest I've found is £90 inc VAT per sheet apparently is used to be around £40 before covid, what's caused this inflation in price?


Cheers!

 

[Lazurus]

Er, Covid?

 

[Ozi]

This may be a stupid idea, I do have quite a talent for them but could you laminate a thin sheet onto structural hardwood ply which seems to be half the price.

 

[Nedsss]

This may be a stupid idea, I do have quite a talent for them but could you laminate a thin sheet onto structural hardwood ply which seems to be half the price.

Good idea, but I don't think it would work as i'll be using a cnc machine to cut the sheets and add designs into the wood.

 

[Nedsss]

Er, Covid?

Yes I know, but be bit more specific.

 

[Ollie78]

Timbmet, Arnold Laver.
To be fair £40 was a pretty good price even before covid. Its cheaper if you buy more as usual.
These guys are not too bad.
https://www.builderdepot.co.uk/timber-sheets/sheet-materials/plywood-sheets/birch-plywood
Ollie

 

[Nedsss]

Timbmet, Arnold Laver.
To be fair £40 was a pretty good price even before covid. Its cheaper if you buy more as usual.
These guys are not too bad.
https://www.builderdepot.co.uk/timber-sheets/sheet-materials/plywood-sheets/birch-plywood
Ollie

yeah, £77/sheet is a good price but they don't deliver to Cambridge unfortunately

Thanks for the recommendation though!

 

[martin.pearson]

Good idea, but I don't think it would work as i'll be using a cnc machine to cut the sheets and add designs into the wood.

What sort of signs & designs will you be machining on a CNC & then what will be your finishing process after machining?
How are you finding the price of the sheets? Are you just checking websites or are you phoning the suppliers? Reason I ask is because there is often a big difference in price between the 2 especially if you are a Business

 

[Lazurus]

Talking to our local builders merchant its actually a lack of supplies driving the prices up, on a quote now they will only honour it for 7 days instead of the usual month. They just dont know when the stock ordered will arrive and said the prices are rising almost daily.

 

[Nedsss]

What sort of signs & designs will you be machining on a CNC & then what will be your finishing process after machining?
How are you finding the price of the sheets? Are you just checking websites or are you phoning the suppliers? Reason I ask is because there is often a big difference in price between the 2 especially if you are a Business

Well I want to start a business selling desks, and using the cnc machine to cut out the shapes I need. I will also need my logo to be cut out and also grooves in the wood sheets so that the pieces slot neatly together. I also want to sand down any rough edges and add a nice varnish to the final product to make it water resistant. It's my first time working with wood, I thought I should mention, so i'm not used to all the terminology.

I've been searching all over the internet looking for the best prices and mainly emailing suppliers to ask for a quote. Do you recommend phoning them up instead?

I'm only looking to buy around 5 sheets of birch ply to see if my idea will work and if people are interested in it. If the idea is successful then I'll go on to buying more bulk orders.

 

[Nedsss]

Talking to our local builders merchant its actually a lack of supplies driving the prices up, on a quote now they will only honour it for 7 days instead of the usual month. They just dont know when the stock ordered will arrive and said the prices are rising almost daily.

ohh I see, thanks for clarifying!

 

[martin.pearson]

Well I want to start a business selling desks, and using the cnc machine to cut out the shapes I need. I will also need my logo to be cut out and also grooves in the wood sheets so that the pieces slot neatly together. I also want to sand down any rough edges and add a nice varnish to the final product to make it water resistant. It's my first time working with wood, I thought I should mention, so i'm not used to all the terminology.

I've been searching all over the internet looking for the best prices and mainly emailing suppliers to ask for a quote. Do you recommend phoning them up instead?

I'm only looking to buy around 5 sheets of birch ply to see if my idea will work and if people are interested in it. If the idea is successful then I'll go on to buying more bulk orders.

I take it you have an 8 x 4 machine for this. CNC machining your logo could be time-consuming, OK to get you started but long term you would be better either buying a laser engraver for that or buy/make a stamp. I'm not a big fan of plywood edges so might be looking at an alternative like plastic or wood trim for the edges but that's another process & expense so would really depend on what your customers want.

I generally either phone or if it's local enough pop in & introduce myself, don't know if it helps to be honest but I am always being told that people buy people so figure if I make it a bit more personal then I might get a better deal lol

From what I understand there are a number of reasons for the sortages in timber yards, Covid is one, Brexit is another as there is now a shortage of HGV drivers, I've also heard that china are now buying as much lumber from around the world as they can get as they have cut right back on their own logging industry.

 

[Nedsss]

I take it you have an 8 x 4 machine for this. CNC machining your logo could be time-consuming, OK to get you started but long term you would be better either buying a laser engraver for that or buy/make a stamp. I'm not a big fan of plywood edges so might be looking at an alternative like plastic or wood trim for the edges but that's another process & expense so would really depend on what your customers want.

I generally either phone or if it's local enough pop in & introduce myself, don't know if it helps to be honest but I am always being told that people buy people so figure if I make it a bit more personal then I might get a better deal lol

Thanks for the advice, i'll have a look into those processes

What sort of prices do you pay for plywood if you don't mind me asking? so I can get a rough idea on what's a good price

 

[martin.pearson]

Thanks for the advice, i'll have a look into those processes

What sort of prices do you pay for plywood if you don't mind me asking? so I can get a rough idea on what's a good price

To be honest I'm not the best person to ask about sheet good prices, I buy very little from Timber Merchants so can't command a very good discount. I buy the odd sheet of birch ply for personal projects & jigs & a bit of construction lumber every now & then but that's about it.
Not bought 18mm birch ply for a while so would need to phone for a price, don't have a problem with that & happy to do it.

Most of what I do is with Scottish Hardwoods that I buy as kiln dried tree slices from a local sawmill & then prepare myself. Most of what I do is small 2D or 3D machined gifts, my CNC is not big enough to take a full 8 x 4 sheet which is what you need for the sort of work you are looking to do, I can machine a full 8 x 4 sheet if I tile it but that isn't very efficient when cutting cabinet parts that need to be nested.

 

[Ollie78]

yeah, £77/sheet is a good price but they don't deliver to Cambridge unfortunately

Thanks for the recommendation though!

Thats unfortunate.

5 sheets might get you a small discount on your order. As stated above it is certainly best to call them rather than just order online.
You could try Severn ply but there is probably a minimum and might not deliver to you in cambridge.

Timbmet, Arnold Laver, James Latham, International timber etc are all pretty much national companies with multiple depots.

If you aren`t in a rush Travis Perkins and Jewsons should be able to get you some, Jewsons are part of the same group as IDS and International timber. They can normally get some within a week.
You might look into different plywoods as well I used to get one called Wisa twin that had a birch face but a different core. Cheaper than pure birch but good faces and nice enough edges.

If you use the right bits and correct feeds and speed you should have to do very little sanding of the edges.
I like a 6mm compression bit for plywood. Speeds depend on your machine of course.

Ps. not sure I agree with martin.pearson about it taking along time to machine a logo, a couple of minutes max as long as its not a super complex design. If you have to buy a laser as well thats an extra machine or at least an extra head so you aren`t going to save any time there. A stamp might be good though and you could easily machine one on your cnc.

Ollie

 

[Jones]

Prices have certainly gone up, I paid £36 for an 18mm sheet at a merchants in July and went back for another last week but it was £90. I got a 24 mm one instead for £70. Huws Gray is a merchant near me that have been buying up merchants all over the country and I think they have a Cambridge branch ,they quoted me £70 for a sheet of 18mm so worth seeing if they can match or better that.

 

[HOJ]

I want to start a business , It's my first time working with wood, I thought I should mention

Excuse my ignorance, how will buying 5 sheets prove your business is viable, next time you buy some ply it could cost even more, surely you've worked a budget plan out of some sort!

Not seen you on C4 TV have I............

 

[DBT85]

Yes I know, but be bit more specific.

The pandemic led, oddly, to a) less people able to work on the chopping down and machining of materials as well as a boon in the amount of people sitting at home on their backsides with a bit of extra money and thinking up cool things they'd like to do. That all led to a huge demand spike in the US for sheet and construction materials which US and EU suppliers struggled to meet which helped drive up prices. Now that those same suppliers have got more staff back and have in some cases expanded their operations, as have suppliers in the US, things have eased, a bit.

I wish all the good fortune in starting a new business. Typically people start them in an area they have at least light to mild practise or expertise though.

 

[martin.pearson]

Ps. not sure I agree with martin.pearson about it taking along time to machine a logo, a couple of minutes max as long as its not a super complex design. If you have to buy a laser as well thats an extra machine or at least an extra head so you aren`t going to save any time there. A stamp might be good though and you could easily machine one on your cnc.

Ollie

That's a fair comment, OK I confess it was a very badly worded post lol maybe not a long time but longer than how I thought I might best do it , I don't do production work but was trying to look at it from that point of view. I would machine the pockets & profile the same way you have mentioned with a 6mm compression bit, I don't have ATC so then I would have to do a bit change & re zero before cutting the logo, after cutting I would have to seal it & then paint it. I have a small laser mounted to the side of my spindle, so could run the pocket & profile toolpaths & then straight after run the laser for the logo & the jobs done.
What I do is mostly one offs using Hardwoods so not a lot of experience with sheet goods & no experience with production work what so ever.

 

[Woodees14]

Have you tried contacting a local independent cabinet maker or kitchen builder? They may use birch plywood in their construction and you may be able to ask them to buy extra in for you? Just a thought