Reality check on Appleply please

[Andrew Schlosser]

I'm going to be making some bookcases for a day care and had heard great things about Appleply. I was expecting a little more money than standard cabinet grade plywood, but that it was available in 4x8. I went to check it out.

Well, it does come in 4x8. Prices quoted at 2 different stores (Lancaster, PA and West Chester PA) for a 3/4" sheet were $190 and $175; it would have to be special ordered. Chesapeake Plywood in Baltimore hasn't carried it in years. Compare this cost to Russian birch for $45.

Is this what everyone is used to paying for Appleply?

[Steve Kohn]

If you have a Menard's around you I would check there. At least here they carry 3/4 inch maple plywood for about $68 a sheet. It is multiply (11 layers I think)

[Joe Jensen]

I have only used Apple ply once, many years ago when it first came out and it was cheaper per sq ft than Baltic Birch.

I have a friend who owns commercial lumber yards and he said true baltic birch ply prices have crashed. BB is 60" by 60".

[glenn bradley]

I used Appleply when BB ply started to disappear from California lumber yards (the manufacturers had no interest in meeting our formaldehyde standards which were soon to go into effect). It was priced about the same, pale in color but otherwise similar. The prices you quote are 30 to 40% higher than the last time I bought but, it has been nearly a year.

[Jamie Buxton]

IRRC, 3/4" Appleply was about $100 per sheet the last time I noticed. My dealer stocks it, so there's no special-order charge.

[Julian Nicks]

Baltic birch is available in 4x8 sheets at the menards stores around here for great prices. It's not the higher grade 5x5 sheets, but it is great if you veneer over it. Homey Depot only carries chinese crap birch ply.

[Kevin Groenke]

We paid $118/sheet for 6 sheets in Minneapolis, MN about 60 days ago.

-kg

I really haven't seen another product that is "equal" to ApplePly.

[Joe Jensen]

Baltic birch is available in 4x8 sheets at the menards stores around here for great prices. It's not the higher grade 5x5 sheets, but it is great if you veneer over it. Homey Depot only carries chinese crap birch ply.

Julian, I strongly suspect that that 4 by 8 material at Lowes is Chinese multiply and not Baltic or Finish Birch. Apply ply is maple, and the other is birch. Both high quality. The stuff at Lowes and Home Depot is pretty much junk. I've seen it delaminate myself.

[Rick Fisher]

I can verify that B/B Baltic birch is cheaper to buy right now than I have ever seen before..

2 years ago, we stopped stocking the product because the price was outrageous.. Today, its in the low $20's wholesale for 12mm.

[Julian Nicks]

Julian, I strongly suspect that that 4 by 8 material at Lowes is Chinese multiply and not Baltic or Finish Birch. Apply ply is maple, and the other is birch. Both high quality. The stuff at Lowes and Home Depot is pretty much junk. I've seen it delaminate myself.


Trust me when I say that I know what baltic birch is. I am 100% positive it is baltic birch. I was also skeptical at first, but when I checked it out, I found out it's the real thing. The quality isn't the same as you'd expect from a hardwood dealer(b versus bb grade), which is to be expected since it's all about pricepoint with big box stores. I was very surprised to find out that Menards of all places carried it in stock. 3/4 sheets are only $60.

They also carry the cheap smelly chinese multiply birch that is the worst material on the market.

[Craig D Peltier]

I pay around $90 sheet of half inch Appleply , layers look like baltic , face much nicer though. Cant buy at Home Depot or Lowes.