I just went over to my local Rockler to pick up some birch plywood and they are having a special on 1/4" 3/8" and 1/2" 12" x 30" sheets - basically 2 for 1.
rockler plywood special
rockler plywood special
Am I allowed to very quietly strangle you, just as to show you my general feelings about people who get special offers of BB? Over here I ´d have to pay an arm and a leg, provided anyone would accept mine in the first place. ~€50 per sq.m. 

Agreed! - but it's about 110$ for 0.5 sqm, which is still a LOT cheaper than anyhwhere in Europe (?)....
What do you pay in Germany?
What do you pay in Germany?
Aurora Borealis - €50 per sq.m. is the standard over here...hey, you up in Scandinowhere are reputed to grow better birches and prettier blondes - could we swap...lower taxed alcohol vs better life?😀
If you can pull all your pieces out of a 12x30 you are fine. Price seems a bit higher than we pay when we buy sheets, but ours doesn't come with the pretty face.
I hope the picture is of 12mm...
dave
I hope the picture is of 12mm...
dave
Nice deal for those of you without a local BB supplier. That's not me, I have aitwood 20 minutes away.
Aitwood Anderson
The Arauco ply at Lowes isn't as nice (not by a long shot) but is pretty good anyway, and very inexpensive. Think of it as halfway between quality general construction ply and baltic birch.
My last build used 3/4 CDX (lovingly selected sheets) with some 1/4" oak ply laminated over top. Works really nicely, but you have to be very careful when you cheap out on your ply, fill your voids, etc. Usually better to just get the good stuff. This particular build (Nelson's B20 TL design) used 2 sheets, is a folded TL and thus very structurally strong, AND got additional bracing. The front baffle was the lowes arauco, and the removable driver baffle baltic birch and MDF.
Aitwood Anderson
The Arauco ply at Lowes isn't as nice (not by a long shot) but is pretty good anyway, and very inexpensive. Think of it as halfway between quality general construction ply and baltic birch.
My last build used 3/4 CDX (lovingly selected sheets) with some 1/4" oak ply laminated over top. Works really nicely, but you have to be very careful when you cheap out on your ply, fill your voids, etc. Usually better to just get the good stuff. This particular build (Nelson's B20 TL design) used 2 sheets, is a folded TL and thus very structurally strong, AND got additional bracing. The front baffle was the lowes arauco, and the removable driver baffle baltic birch and MDF.
i don't think i've come across arauco ply on the east coast. i think the best i've found at a big box has been the "sande" plywood at home depot. looks better than their plywood tropics usa birch from china. or the columbiaforestproducts.com made in usa purebond 3/4" maple ply.
i'm considering using the sande ply for the two 6' sides of a hiro/sachiko double mouth horn with 5x5 baltic birch for all other panels including the back by using the angle option so the rectangle will have six facets. it will all depend on what the 4X8 exterior grade russian birch ply looks like when i see it. cherry ply is too expensive so thats out.
i could use some input on any down sides sonically with the aforementioned idea?
i'm considering using the sande ply for the two 6' sides of a hiro/sachiko double mouth horn with 5x5 baltic birch for all other panels including the back by using the angle option so the rectangle will have six facets. it will all depend on what the 4X8 exterior grade russian birch ply looks like when i see it. cherry ply is too expensive so thats out.
i could use some input on any down sides sonically with the aforementioned idea?
I just went over to my local Rockler to pick up some birch plywood and they are having a special on 1/4" 3/8" and 1/2" 12" x 30" sheets - basically 2 for 1.rockler plywood special
From the link I see that the 3/4" comes out at about $4 / sq ft.
Locally I get very nice birch plywood at a $1 / sq ft.
😎
yeah, the 3/4 was not on special...but not a bad price on the smaller thicknesses if you dont need a 4x8 sheet.
i don't think i've come across arauco ply on the east coast. i think the best i've found at a big box has been the "sande" plywood at home depot.
Might be the same stuff, my local HD has the Arauco ply but it's not labeled as such. $24 per 4 x 8 sheet right now!
Might be the same stuff, my local HD has the Arauco ply but it's not labeled as such. $24 per 4 x 8 sheet right now!
I've used some if this from Lowe's. It's 18mm and the good side is adequate for veneering, but takes a couple of coats of primer to make it paintable. This stuff is not going to look very good stained or simply clear-coated.
Right now I'm using cabinet grade birch plywood that has acceptably small and few voids. It is much harder than the Arauco plywood. Don't even look at pine plywood.
Bob
the sande ply at my H.D., has some small voids about the size to fit a pin head. i didn't know what's considered acceptable. was going by my 1/2 pallet stock of 5x5 baltic birch which has zero visible voids and weighs around 63lb/18mm sheet (my scale isn't the most accurate).
thanks for the info. i'd much rather build at least one mono prototype out of sande ply which i can get any day of the week within a five-ten minute drive.
thanks for the info. i'd much rather build at least one mono prototype out of sande ply which i can get any day of the week within a five-ten minute drive.
Found an interesting product at Orchard Supply Hardware. Labeled Sandeply, it's some sort of lightweight solid wood core (made of staves, so like a butcher-block construction) with nice quality finish-faces on either end. Should be good for some purposes.
badman,
look at it but do not touch. The material is OK for builing furniture, that´s what it is meant for - but ("lightweight" is the key word) very bad medicine for HiFi. A German DIY mag ran a comparison test some years ago and Tischlerplatte (that´s the German word) was included...
! The waterfall diagram would do any horror movie proud.
look at it but do not touch. The material is OK for builing furniture, that´s what it is meant for - but ("lightweight" is the key word) very bad medicine for HiFi. A German DIY mag ran a comparison test some years ago and Tischlerplatte (that´s the German word) was included...

Thanks for the response Pit! Definitely it's not "normal" cabinet material, but should work well as shelf bracing or if used as a single layer within a multilayer laminate construction.
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