Home Depot Birch

[arnach]

Is Home Depot Birch plywood as good as Baltic Birch? Is it the same thing?

It's $14.95 for a 3/4" width 2' x 4' ...

Seems to cost as much as baltic birch,

and it's very convienent.

Anybody?

-- Aaron

[jackinnj]

Baltic birch is made up of more layers than that typically found at Home Depot <b> HOWEVER!!!!! </b> in looking at some of the birch ply which my son (the architect in training) is using it would appear that they may be importing from Russia -- I counted 17 layers of veneer compared to the more typical 5 layers (with plenty of voids) in regular HD stuff.

My first instinct was to "just say no", but upon actually examining a piece I am wondering if HD isn't making a move up the lumber food chain. So the moral of the story is to count the layers.

[BrianGT]

Home Depot is very convienent, I like their red oak.

--
Brian

[Peter Daniel]

Home Depot is like Digi-Key, not the best stuff but very convenient and readily available (and it's 5 min drive from my house ).

[Sidney]

It was probably due more to me being a novice woodworker and taking things too fast and not the wood, but the finish I tried over HD birch ply didn't take evenly. I think I may have missed a prep stage. The Dayton III's were 3/4" MDF glued to 1/4" Birch ply for top, bottom & sides and 3/4"MDF glued to 1/2" Birch ply front and back. They were gorgeous prior to staining and then....... They still pass the WAF and sound great but one of these days I'll have to strip them and make them look as good as they were supposed to.

[Bob2]

Sidney

The problem is the birch itself. Birch is know for being difficult to stain. A pre-stain may help, then again it may not.

Bob2

[jackinnj]

Birch stains very easily, in fact. At any rate, it's always recommended that you apply stain to a scrap and check the results. Woods which are resinated (like pine and cedar) aren't worth the bother staining.

[pinkmouse]

If you're not after a super shiny finish, wax with added stain will cover any type of wood well, and give a good long lasting result that is easily touched up should accidents occur...

Baltic Birch was origionaly a trade name, but like Hoover, it has become generic.

The way to check ply is , as jackinnj said, first count the number of layers, the more the better, then make a few test cuts across the board, and see if any voids are present. If these number more than one or two in a board then discard it for enclosure manufacture, but it would be fine for building equipment racks or other furniture.

[Thatch_Ear]

I have seen some great looking ply made from fir, so of course it is called Firply. From what I understand it is very good about voids except for when new rolls of laminate are started. So far in the pieces I have help cut and others I looked at I have not seen a void.
Not easy to find but if you can worth it as it costs around 1/2 the Baltic Bearch.
I don't know if this is true but heard it from someone who works in a lumber mill in Oregon, Home Depot has some fairly strict guide lines on buying their lumber from companies that practice good conservation type forestry. That is a good thing but does not mean they make a better product.

[pinkmouse]

I don't know if this is true but heard it from someone who works in a lumber mill in Oregon, Home Depot has some fairly strict guide lines on buying their lumber from companies that practice good conservation type forestry. That is a good thing but does not mean they make a better product.

I have been building things from wood for years, and I now only use wood from sustainable sources, which is achievable, but not easy, in Europe, but I don't know about the States and Canada.

Not to preach, but I think this is all something we should think about, which is why I will never build a Class A amp, they have to be one of the most wasteful devices ever invented!