Have a couple questions for the experts

[Dustin Lorenz]

I was going to pickup some birch plywood the other day for some shop jigs. I use to never use jigs the only things I made before were outdoor furniture and it was all done with dimensional lumber pretty simple stuff. I now started to do some quality work and need to build some jigs so anyways the first birch plywood I found at Menards was called classic I believe and it came in veneer or mdf I then noticed they also carried baltic birch plywood which is what most magazines that have the jigs I want to build name as the plywood to use. Now the baltic is much more expensive but is that what I should be getting? Just curious what your thoughts are on that and if anyone has a good idea on how to prevent black pipe clamps from marking my panels. I was thinking of sand blasting them and then putting on a hard automotive clear coat but figured that might screw up the way the sliding clamp secures to the pipe. I know I could buy more expensive pipe like nickel plated or stainless but would like to keep the cost down, after all pipe clamps are suppose to be cheap right?
Thanks for any info

[David Christopher]

Dustin. BB plywood is the right stuff to use..it will stay flat and smooth..I think you can get a better quality jig when you use better quality material...as fas as the black pipe goes I use wax paper between the clamp and material...

[glenn bradley]

+1 on BB ply. Expensive but, I have jigs hat rely on dimensional stability that I have used for years without issue. the cost becomes reasonable when you realize the durability ;-)

As to pipe clamps; I used galvo pipe when I outfitted my various pipe clamps. I have never had stains and saved a ton on wax paper . . . OK, I'm kidding about the wax paper savings. The difference in cost on the pipe averaged over the amount of time I have used the clamps is about .000003 cents per day. However, in these tough times we all have to save where we can. Given the choice I would go with black pipe and spend the money on the BB ply. Wax paper or a strip of tape will solve your potential staining issues on the clamps but, you can't make BB ply out of something else.

[harry strasil]

Short pieces of the white Plastic pipe used for plumbing, cut several lengths in multiples of 6. 2inch, 4 inch, 6 inch, slip over the pipe before clamping.

[Joe Scharle]

First, when I have to use pipe clamps (seldom), I wrap blue tape around the pipe where it will contact glue. You need the black pipe to remain black so it benefits from it's gripping ability.

Second, there are jigs and then there are fixtures. Any jig I build that I know will become a fixture in my shop is made with BB. Any temporary jig that I need for a particular job is made with whatever is flat, cheap and handy. Occasionally, I find that a temporary jig lends itself to other uses with some modifications and I'll build it better a second time with BB.

[Scott Schwake]

I now started to do some quality work and need to build some jigs so anyways the first birch plywood I found at Menards was called classic I believe and it came in veneer or mdf I then noticed they also carried baltic birch plywood which is what most magazines that have the jigs I want to build name as the plywood to use. Now the baltic is much more expensive but is that what I should be getting?

I recently bought some of that cheaper ($35/sheet) veneer birch plywood from Menards for a project. Although the edges looked decent, I discovered numerous voids in the plys when I cut into it. The baltic birch was twice as much, but I think it is supposed to be void-free, I'll probably splurge for that next time.