Baltic Birch for spline material?

[lift mechanic]

I am building a large very heavy dining room table. Table size is 42" x 78" out of 8/4 quartersawn white oak. I have already cut the groove for the splines and the groove is exactly .475" which is what 12mm baltic birch measures. I normally use the same type wood for the spline but was wondering if the BB ply would be as strong as solid oak. Comment welcome, Thanks Mark

[jasfrank]

That will be quite a heavy top. The furniture movers probably won't be sending you any xmas cards.
What splines are you referring to? To join the boards for the top? If so, it won't matter what you use, and I doub't it would matter if you used any. A good straight freshly jointed edge will glue up very strong. And just tap the wood in place as you clamp it up if its alignment you're looking for.
Post pictures of the job as I'm sure that's quite an impressive table. Furniture with lots of mass always looks great.

[YSU65]

jasfrank said:

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That will be quite a heavy top. The furniture movers probably won't be sending you any xmas cards.
What splines are you referring to? To join the boards for the top? If so, it won't matter what you use, and I doub't it would matter if you used any. A good straight freshly jointed edge will glue up very strong. And just tap the wood in place as you clamp it up if its alignment you're looking for.
Post pictures of the job as I'm sure that's quite an impressive table. Furniture with lots of mass always looks great.

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Yea, I also wonder why you need the spline. The glue is stronger than the wood. Use a slight spring joint, should last several lifetimes....

[lift mechanic]

I use splines to help line the edges up. It takes just little sanding to get all the boards flush with each other.

[JGrout]

the bb will be fine even though you really don't need it

Joe