a source of birch ply that ships international

[Tai Fu]

I am in Taiwan, and I hear people talk of birch ply but I can't find them. All they have are cheap lauan ply, except here they cost as much as birch ply in the US.

However being heavy birch ply costs a lot to ship here, so I was wondering are there any suggestions for this? Rockler wanted like 300 dollars to ship one sheet.

[Jamie Buxton]

Shipping plywood in small quantities is a big problem. The sheets are big and awkward, and difficult to ship. You might consider just buying veneer, and applying it to the lauan ply which you can buy locally. Veneer gets rolled up and shipped in easy-to-handle boxes. Of course, you'll have to learn how to apply veneer, and buy the tools, so nothing is easy.

[Tai Fu]

The issue I have with cheap ply is void and strength... it doesn't hold thread very well and breaks easily compared to birch... I just wonder if there are exporters for those things near my location... all I have found are Alibaba.com links that requires whole containers (or more).

[Lon Crosby]

There are freight importers/exporters that specialize in theshipment of smaller than container quantities of something – one motorcycle,one industrial machine, a consumer item such as a washer/dryer, etc. Theycombine the various pieces into one container; and all parties share the shippingcost. Most containers headed west to Japan, Taiwan, China, etc. are going backempty so rates could be very good. The other alternative is to make friendswith someone (another woodworking friend) shipping something to Taiwan whereplywood could be legitimately considered part of the shipment (divider, shelf,etc.). An example might be container of soybeanswhere a sheet of plywood could legitimately be considered part of the rearbulkhead. That might even resolve a duty issue.

[Roger Rayburn]

I'd go down to the docks and talk to some people handling incoming freight and follow the trail back to the recipients of the goods and ask about their shipping crates. You might actually stumble across "somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody" importing some decent plywood who could then sell you some.

[Tai Fu]

yea I found someone selling birch ply for like 80 dollars for a 50x50cm piece... really pricey.

[Jim Matthews]

I lived and worked in Hualien for two years, back in the 1990's - those that haven't been on the island might not grasp the scarcity of something like this.

I'm wondering if there isn't some high-end exporter of case goods that might keep off cuts, or over-runs for resale?
http://www.csfurniture.com.tw/
http://www.iafpalliance.com/item/taiwan-s-oa-furniture-makers-struggle-to-remain-competitive.html

If there is not response from the larger makers, I would consider using reinforcements with Luan Panels, where possible.
Threaded inserts to accept either machine screws or conformat screws might solve the fixture problem.

There are other sources, but a regular fixture in the Creek is Leonard Lee of Ottawa, Canada.
They have an extensive catalog of hardware to handle the sort of problems you've described.
http://www.leevalley.com/en/hardware/page.aspx?p=41319&cat=3,41306

[Tai Fu]

I am not all that confident of getting a response from furniture makers, I think they simply use regular lauan ply with veneers when making plywood furniture, or many of them are made with wood core board, which is basically a core of a really soft wood such as Paulownia with veneer over it... I have managed to find a lumberyard in Taiwan that has wood like mahogany, maple, ebony, etc. and that's after a decade of searching!