I noticed that the Baltic Birch plywood I got in
handy panels (so I could transport them) wound up with
a significant amount of voids after cutting.

I thought this stuff was supposed to be void-free.

What's the deal?

My little whiskey box style nearfields using Tangband w3-871Ses
are finally together. I don't have a lot good to say about
how the butt joints turned out either. But there was a lot of
stuff to learn on a first project. I guess you could call these
the 'rustic' look. Oh yeah.

:o)

If you're in the US and went to someplace like Home Depot or Lowe's you bought birch veneer plywood, but that is far from the product know as Finnish or Baltic Birch. I saw some birch veneer plywood in Lowe's recently that was actually lumber-core (what lumber is anybody's guess).

I believe 18 mm (3/4" stock) has 13 plys (1.4 mm each).

Yes, the Home Depot was my point of purchase. I haven't
been to Finland. Handy panels are 4x8's cut down to
2x4 ft. They are handier to carry.

My next project hopefully will be a Voigt pipe in
pine if I can find some without knots.

I am making some test boxes for Fostex FE27e in a
MLTL design in between things.

I dont think HD sells Baltic. Have not noticed any at the stores I've been to at least.
Look for a distributor in your area for Appleply. An American version of Birch and Alder combination. can be had in 4x8 sheets instead of the traditional baltic 5x5.

Bill

• States Industries Appleply

Actually, I read recently Home Depot is trying to settle all kinds of problems with South American countries where they source most of their plywood. The stuff they import is really, exceptionally poor. I buy it all the time because it's convienient, but it offers nothing else. They sell something they call "sanded plywood". The face veneers look really great, A-A. When you cut it or run a router into it little islands within the wood catch fire. Little embers. Weird. Sometimes they fly out of the cut glowing like you were at a grinding wheel.

You can buy 20 X 30 pieces and larger of Finnish or Baltic birch on the internet - Do a Google search. They will want to cut it to facilitate shipping. The full panels are 60" X 60" so the cut pieces will be multiples of those dimensions.

If you want to do something economical with solid wood try poplar. Really stinks (to me at least) when you cut it but it certainly is beautiful stuff to work with. Trying finishing it with some milk paint.

White Pine and similar softwood is actually some of the hardest wood to work with. You need incredibly sharp tools to cut it cleanly, and keeping a sharp molded or square edge is nearly impossible.

That stuff at The Depot must have been plain birch ply rather
than baltic or Finnish.

I'm going to have to get out the phone book and look for a real
lumber yard to get some board stock. The Poplar is a good
suggestion.

The must really take care in drying it - die rule straight. No warp or wind at all.

The price ($80 Cdn per sheet,for partial sheets) is equivalent to about $61 USD per sheet, $15 USD per quarter sheet. That's roughly what they charge for their "cabinet grade" birch veneer plywood here.

3/4" - 18 or 19 mm Baltic birch here is also around $60 per sheet. But that's $60 for 25 Sq Ft, vs 32 Sq Ft for "ordinary" plywood. If the comparison holds up, you ought to be paying even more than you are for Baltic Birch.