Baltic Birch Ply in northern Boston area..

[Michael Wildt]

Hi,

I'm new to wood working so I'm looking for places that would carry BB ply around the northern Boston area.

I just visited Woodery lumber in Lunenburg. Nice place and extremely helpful. He had BB ply 3/4 for $65 a sheet. I wouldn't mind supporting that place, but would like to know if other places are closer to the Chelmsford area.

Michael
(Wood novice)

[Michael Pfau]

Michael, is that BB ply the 5 x 5 sheets?..I pay 45 a sheet for 5 x 5 here in western montana...and swollow hard when paying the bill!! just curious...

[Anthony Whitesell]

I also found it for $65 a 5x5 sheet at Highland Hardwoods in Brentwood, NH. Please, post back if you find it cheaper.

[Michael Wildt]

Hi,

Yep, it is the 5x5 sheets. He even had a 1" thick sheet, which I've never seen before. That one I didn't ask the price on, but he mentioned it was > $100.

When I visited the local Lowes, yesterday, I looked at ply and was very disappointed. It was all warped, to some degree. No idea if it was domestic stuff or imported.

Michael

[Al Lupone]

I just checked at the Boulterplywood site in Somerville. They have the BB at $69.00 for the 5x5 sheets.
Al

[Jamie Buxton]

Just for education...

True Baltic Birch plywood comes from Russia. The grade stamps on it are in Cyrillic. It is 5'x5'. It is most commonly 12 mm thick (1/2"), but sometimes available in 25 mm. The 12 mm flavor generally has 9 plies, and they are all birch. There are said to be several grades, which may explain the large price variations reported on web forums. For instance, my local dealers sell the 12 mm sheet for $30 or so. When BB first arrived in the US it was very good stuff. But what I see now isn't flat, and has occasional voids. I've stopped using it.


There are other plywoods which look a lot like Baltic Birch. Sometimes they are confused/substituted for it.

Finn Ply. All-birch like Baltic Birch. Made in Finland. Good stuff. 4'x8' sheets. An odd thing about it is that the grain direction of the face veneers runs the 4' direction. One local dealer has it in 4 mm, 7 mm, 9 mm, 12 mm and 18 mm. The 12 mm sheet costs $75 or so.

Apple Ply. Maple faces, alder core, despite the name. Made in North America. Good stuff. Local dealers have 1/4", 1/2", and 3/4". A 1/2" sheet costs about $75. I use this when I need a BB-like plywood.

Nasty stuff. Has lots of plies like the others above. Often has very thin birch face veneers. Core is often called poplar, but doesn't smell like it. HD and Lowes sell it. It is said to be made in China. 1/2" sheets are in the $40 area. It has a bad reputation for warping if you look at it sideways.

[Mark Engel]

BargainBirch.com sells pre-cut, odd sizes of BB ply. They are located in Farmington, NH, wich may be a bit of a drive for you. They will ship it to you, though.

[Rob Blaustein]

I get my plywood from Boulter in Somerville. Should be a 35-40 min drive from Chelmsford according to Google maps. They have a pretty good selection (see http://www.boulterplywood.com/). They carry Baltic Birch (B/BB) and ApplePly in B1 only. I got some pre-finished maple ply (not BB but poplar core ply) from them in 3/4" and 1/2" and was impressed with the finish but the sheets were not perfectly flat. It didn't have too much of an effect on the shelves I made, but it bothered me a bit since it wasn't inexpensive ($85/sheet for 3/4). That should be less of a problem with ApplePly since it is actually a brand name--from States INdustries, and they supposedly have good QC. But it is a bit pricey at $120/sheet for 3/4".