Cheap baltic birch??

[Jason White]

Picked up some unfinished 1/2" baltic birch ply at Rockler yesterday. $25 for a 2x5 sheet. Ouch!!

Does anybody in the Boston area carry full 4x8 sheets of Baltic Birch or other suitable drawer stock for a reasonable price?

JW

[Al Lupone]

Have you checked Boulter Plywood in Somerville. 1/2" 5X5 is $49.00. 4X8 is $95.00. Still not cheap.
Al

[Matt Meiser]

Baltic birch prices are way up. There is a shortage and some places are having trouble getting it at all. The place I bought mine from about 6 weeks ago was holding their current price, but the next load was going to cost a whole lot more. Another big supplier in this area has a warning about its availability in their price list.

[Thomas Canfield]

McCoys here in Tyler, TX has the Russian "Baltic Birch", 1/2" x 5' x 5' sheet for just under $30 last week, except they were currently out. I bought some a couple of years ago under $20 and found it to be solid and a good buy. They carry it for cabinet use, and do not stock other thickness. Check out some cabinet shops and they might sell a sheet or so.

[Emmanuel Weber]

Highland hardwoods in brentwood NH
1/2" 5x5 B/BB for $39.95 3/4" for $58.95
If I am not mistaking they have 5% off if you buy 5 sheets and 10% if you by 10 sheets.
I would call ahead of time because last time I went there was not a lot remaining.

[Tyler Purcell]

"Cheap Baltic Birch" is an oxymoron these days.

[Chris Barton]

As Tyler said, ain't no cheap BB.

[Tom Veatch]

...full 4x8 sheets of Baltic Birch ...


Baltic Birch, AFAIK, isn't fabricated in 4x8 sheets. "full size" sheets are 5' x 5'.

An American made alternative void free plywood is "Appleply" which IS made in "standard" 4x8 sheet sizes. Only problem, other than cost, is that finding Appleply in less than industrial quantities can be quite difficult. Incidentally, "Appleply" is a brand name and doesn't imply the wood is from an Apple tree.

[Jim Becker]

I pay an average of $45 for a 5'x5' sheet of BB ply at my local supplier. They can get me a 4'x8' product, but I actually prefer the smaller sheets most of the time for easier handling.

[Dan Hodkinson]

Just bought 4 sheets of BB in 1/2". $25.00. 5x5. And I though that was high.
Dan

[Matt Meiser]

Dan, that's cheaper than around here. The three places I've bougth from are $25.20, $29.95 and $34.50. The lowest priced place is probably the lowest volume and the highest price the highest volume, so I suspect their prices are going up as they refesh their stock.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Go here:
http://www.statesind.com/market/zipcode.html

Plug in your Zip code and cal the dealers listed.
States Industries deals in Appleply

[Art Allen]

Baltic Birch, AFAIK, isn't fabricated in 4x8 sheets. "full size" sheets are 5' x 5'.



Here in Nebraksa, Menards sells "Baltic Birch" in 4'x8' sheets. The 3/4" is $63 the 1/2" is about $50, and the 1/4" is $25. I do not know whether it is real Baltic Birch or a knockoff, but except for the sizes, it is identical to the 5'x5' sheets I have seen.

[Wes Bischel]

"Cheap Baltic Birch" is an oxymoron these days.

Took the words right out of my mouth! I immediately had the same thought!:D :D

Wes

[Matt Meiser]

Art, if the stuff Menards sells is of Chinese origin, it ight be the same stuff Home Depot is/was selling. It looked like BB, but the face veneers are really thin, the thickness wasn't uniform even within the same sheet, and many of us had trouble with it warping even with proper storage. Then again it might be just fine as I've not seen it, but be careful as Menards tends to focus on lowest price.

[Brian Backner]

Jason,

You might want to try Downes and Reader on Rt 27 in Stoughton. They sell "Russian" baltic birch plywood. They last time I bought some 3/4", it was $29 per 5x5 sheet. They can also order it in 4x8, and even 5x8. Their phone number is: (781) 341-4092.

Brian
Walpole

[Nancy Laird]

We've been buying 1/8" BB ply for our laser work, at $6.75 a sheet for a 5x5'. The last time hubby ordered, he was told that there was going to be a price increase, so he ordered 20 sheets, which are still sitting at the dealer waiting to be picked up. We're wondering how much our stuff will go up.:(

Nancy (134 days)

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Not specific to OP, but I heard about Industrial Plywood Inc in Reading PA here at SMC. Went by there last week and bought quite a bit of sheet goods. They have a very wide range of hardwood plywoods. They were very friendly (unusual for sheet good dealers on a retail basis in this area). Much better prices than anyone else here in Central PA.

Russian BB
1/2" BB 5 x 5 = 22.50
1/2" BB 4 x 8 = 51.52

[Luciano Burtini]

Not specific to OP, but I heard about Industrial Plywood Inc in Reading PA here at SMC. Went by there last week and bought quite a bit of sheet goods. They have a very wide range of hardwood plywoods. They were very friendly (unusual for sheet good dealers on a retail basis in this area). Much better prices than anyone else here in Central PA.

Russian BB
1/2" BB 5 x 5 = 22.50
1/2" BB 4 x 8 = 51.52


Just a quick observation:

5 x 5 = 25 sqft and $22.50 / 25 = $0.90 sqft
4 x 8 = 32 sqft and $51.52 / 32 = $1.61 sqft

:rolleyes:

[Jason White]

Thanks for the tip! I've been there before and have been looking for an excuse to go back! :)

JW


Jason,

You might want to try Downes and Reader on Rt 27 in Stoughton. They sell "Russian" baltic birch plywood. They last time I bought some 3/4", it was $29 per 5x5 sheet. They can also order it in 4x8, and even 5x8. Their phone number is: (781) 341-4092.

Brian
Walpole

[Joe Jensen]

I've had terrible luck with the cheap stuff. It warps, the thickness is not consistent, and there are voids. I have several sheets and I don't really want to use it as it's so bad.

I can only get good stuff from the commercial suppliers and from one retail place locally, Chandler Hardwoods.

[Mark Engel]

If you can work with odd sizes, this place seems to have a pretty consistent supply:

http://www.bargainbirch.com/commerce/index.php?cPath=21

[Larry Rasmussen]

I guess I should say email list. Their prices are higher than average but occasionally they will discount the heck out of them. Last time they did I picked up a bunch of 1/4, 3/4 and 1/2 inch at 50% off. My store has it cut down to 24 X 60 inches but I did the math on the square footage price and when the sale hit stacked almost 20 of these in mixed sizes on the Corolla roof rack. What a luxury to have it available whenever needed.

Anyway you might get lucky so watch the ads for Rockler while you shop.

Larry