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Baltic Birch Plywood


Travis

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Hi All.  I'm writing up an article on Baltic Birch plywood for our Articles section and I thought I'd crowd-source some feedback as it relates to scrollers.

  • What do you find Baltic Birch most useful for? 
  • What kind of projects? 
  • How else do you use it? 
  • Any tips you'd like to share?

Please share your knowledge and experience.  :)

 

 

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I mostly use BB ply for detailed projects where I need the advantages of strength and stability that it provides over solid wood, ie Christmas ornaments, portraits, some types of word art (overlay), etc.  I use it in projects where I don't want to grain to compete with the cut image, such as backer boards.  I also use it for other WW'ing projects; drawer bottoms, cabinet backs, shop jigs, templates, etc.

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I pretty much use it only for fretwork pictures, in 1/4" and 1/8" thickness.  I have used it a couple times in boxes, but usually I use hardwoods for boxes.  I use very little of it now that it is running around $60 a 5'x5' sheet.  Might as well by hardwoods.  I also understand there are different grades of BB.  From what I have seen locally lately we are getting mostly the poorer grades.

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Only thing new I can add that hasn't already been said is jigsaw puzzles.. the kind where you laminate a photo to the 1/8 - 1/4 BBply and cut into a puzzle. I tried regular ply for that once and it was a disaster.. but the BBply has good strength and no voids. I don't make many puzzles anymore but noticed that one hadn't been mentioned yet. I use it for most the other things that others have mentioned already. 

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I use the 1/4 BB ply exclusively for fretwork art type panel backers.  I use 5/32 in thk solid core project panels for the cut panels. I find even the best quality 1/8 in thk BB Ply is not nice looking enough lacking grain and color.  Also it does tends to warp and will not lay flat.  

Edited by FrankEV
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I'd guess 98% of everything I've cut has been using Baltic Birch - mostly 1/4" with 1/8" second runner up and the rest 1/2".

And about 98% of the patterns have been Steve Good patterns (thanks Steve).
The wood has a uniform color.  Cut easily, takes stain and finishes well.
Is locally available in various sizes, compared to hardwood. 
The quality is better than other plywood available at the box stores (HD/Lowes).
That's my 2 pennies worth.

 

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