Baltic Birch Plywood

[Bill Holt]

You are getting some good information from those ahead of me.  I am very lucky to have Central Hardwoods only 12 minutes from the house.  In standard thickness they stock:
5'x5' true BB
4'x8' "Domestic BB" (the quality is about the same as the true BB)
4'x8' China BB (voids are not frequent, interior layers are pressed, and irregular)

Since you don't have a pickup, you need a retailer selling smaller units.  Another thought, you might be able to find a cabinet shop that would sell you partial sheet goods.

Good luck

[jteneyck]

You don't need a pickup truck or to rent a truck.  You can carry quite a lot on the roof of nearly any car.  



I had 5 sheets of 3/4" x 4 x 8' plywood on in this load.  I order 4 to 6 sheets of 5 x 5' BB plywood at a time, and they go on my car, too.  You can carry lots of reasonable sized loads on a regular car.  All you need is a roof rack.  Put a couple of ratchet straps over the load, open the doors and connect the ends tight inside, then close the doors.  It's not going anywhere as long as you drive at prudent speeds which for me means secondary roads at less than 50 mph.  
 
John

[ez-duzit]

Any lumber yard should be able to order Baltic birch plywood for you, though that is not necessary for a sled. But you probably have boat builders near you that can sell you a drop from some marine plywood, which is also better than you require.

[Phydeaux]

I feel like either the skunk at the garden party or the dufus among the competent.

I tried desperately to make a crosscut sled and a box joint jig for my table saw. I had an awful time keeping Rockler Baltic birch plywood flat. I did a 5-cut square check and got near perfect but finally gave up on getting 90 degrees in all the right places for the standard, simple box joint jig using the Baltic birch.

I gave up and bought an Incra jig.

A few days ago I was in the shop checking my Baltic birch miter gauge extension. It had developed a bow. I couldn't find a flat piece of anything in my shop, including the Baltic birch.

I just ordered an Incra crosscut sled and miter gauge combo.

I regret that I spend so many frustrated hours and dollars trying to build those shop-made helpers. I'm sure I get some blame, but I put some of it on the poor quality and instability of the plywood.

[EricU]

we have a plywood dealer close enough that they deliver to this area twice a week.  Delivery was $30 or something and the 5'x5' sheets were quite a bit cheaper than the borgs.   But the quality was much better. They had 4x8 sheets, that were a bit closer to the borgs in price, but still not as much and I'm sure they are better quality

[KC]

The Baltic I've bought recently is c r a p compared to the 5 x 5 sheets I used to buy (rarely) at McCoys… which I wouldn't consider a high end source.  Very disappointed in what Paxton is selling. 

[Mike 55]

I feel like either the skunk at the garden party or the dufus among the competent.

I tried desperately to make a crosscut sled and a box joint jig for my table saw. I had an awful time keeping Rockler Baltic birch plywood flat. I did a 5-cut square check and got near perfect but finally gave up on getting 90 degrees in all the right places for the standard, simple box joint jig using the Baltic birch.

I gave up and bought an Incra jig.

A few days ago I was in the shop checking my Baltic birch miter gauge extension. It had developed a bow. I couldn't find a flat piece of anything in my shop, including the Baltic birch.

I just ordered an Incra crosscut sled and miter gauge combo.

I regret that I spend so many frustrated hours and dollars trying to build those shop-made helpers. I'm sure I get some blame, but I put some of it on the poor quality and instability of the plywood.

I had a Incra 1000 in my old shop that I bought 15 years ago. It worked great. I sold it with my table saw when I moved. I just Googled the sled combo and it looks cool. The sled had some bad reviews concerning the 4 screws stripping out that adjusts the miter bar. Let me know how it works for you. I might consider this instead of building a sled. 
  At he very least I might spring of the 1000SE. 

Thanks

Mike

[hankgillette]

Do you know of any places to buy full sheets on-line that are reputable? All the places I Goggled only sell them in cut down portions due to shipping.

Steve Wall Lumber Company in North Carolina sells Baltic Birch in full sheets. They ship by truck, so you may want to order as much as possible, since shipping doesn’t go up in price as quickly as the order does.

I’ve never ordered the Baltic Birch from them, but I did order some hardwood boards. The man who took my order was very knowledgeable, and made sure that I was getting what I wanted.

[Rob Young]

I find that MDF works just fine for me when making a sled.

For larger sleds I use 3/4", smaller sleds, 1/2"

Yes, it is heavy. But I've found it to stay flat and for fences on the sled I'll dig through the wood stash and use quarter sawn material. I've made some fences using MDF but generally I want the fence to hold a screw so hardwood is a better choice.

Rather than wrestle with full sheets of MDF for making jigs and sleds, I get 2x2 or 2x4 partial sheets. A bit more expensive per square foot but much easier to deal with and I really don't use that much.