Baltic Birch Plywood Help

[Billy in Va]

There is an article in the latest Woodsmith about  Premium Plywood.  The article states that 3/4 inch Baltic Birch has 13 core plies.  I recently purchased some 1/4  and 1/8 ply that was labeled Baltic Birch.  (Not from the abig box store).  How many core plies are there in the 1/4?   Baltic birch is reported to be free of voids, yet I have found two so far in a 12'' X 12 " board.   I am trying to determine if I have true Baltic Birch or a knock off.  Thanks for any help.

[old wormy]

Billy, I use a lot of 1/8" BB and have found no voids.  My 1/8" has only three layers, a thick inside one sandwiched between two thinner outer layers. I can't say about the 1/4".

[don in brooklin on]

I use a lot of both and have no voids.  In a sheet, there maybe 1 area patched on the back.

The 1/8 inch (sold as 3mm) has 3 plys and the 1/4 (6mm) has 5 plys.

It comes in 5'x 5' sheets.

Don

[dgman]

Hey Billy, personally I don't care how many plies my Baltic birch has. What I do care about is voids in the inner plys. If you have voids, it's not Baltic birch.
I have bought birch plywood at lumber yards, but I knew it was not Baltic birch. Where did you get yours?

[mrsn]

1/4" should have 5 layers, 1/8" has 3 layers.
True Baltic birch plywood has no voids and comes in a 5'x5' sheet, not a typical 4'x8' sheet like most stuff.
There is a difference between Baltic birch plywood and birch plywood. Usually birch plywood has voids and is a lesser quality.

[ChuckD]

1/4" should have 5 layers, 1/8" has 3 layers.
True Baltic birch plywood has no voids and comes in a 5'x5' sheet, not a typical 4'x8' sheet like most stuff.
There is a difference between Baltic birch plywood and birch plywood. Usually birch plywood has voids and is a lesser quality.

And it will splinter quite a lot.  If it don't say Baltic Birch and is not in 5X5 sheets there is a very good possibility it isn't. 

[Toneman]

Well, I had some 1/2'' Baltic birch  with several voids that I purchased from an on line vendor. ( will not mention name) I was really surprised because this was the first batch with voids, so, could the quality of wood be getting worse? I order on line because the birch at Home Depot and Lowe's is not baltic. I will be calling the vendor to see what has happened to the quality.

Tony,aka,Toneman

[Billy in Va]

Thanks to you folks I now know the wood I purchased is Baltic Birch - 1/4 " has 5 plies It does have at least 3 voids, (pictures attached) the deepest measures 5/64" by  micrometer.

Dan, I too do not care how many plies there are in the wood but for this purpose I needed to know for verification. (Amazing how you can use something a while yet  know very litle about it)  All of the other ply I  use  (regular birch, oak and sand-ply)  are only three plies One thick one in the middle and two very thin veneers on the outsides.  The wood I purchased was from a reputable dealer and was labeled Baltic Birch. I did not know and wanted to make sure the dealer was not being fooled too.  One thing for sure,  with what I learned , I will not have a problem challenging a supplier if wood is incorrectly labeled Baltic Birch.. Oh and the article in Woodsmith also said that there are some suppliers are now offering standard 4 X 8 sheets of Baltic Birch. 

[julief]

In all the years I have been doing this, I have never seen a void in baltic birch.  That is why I buy it.

[Billy in Va]

Tony and I have both seen the voids so I wonder if there are som manufacturers out there that are starting to get sloppy?

[Russ C]

Billy, the profile picture looks just like the Baltic Birch - 1/4 " I buy from Sloan's Woodshop. It has 5 plies also. I have never had any voids but I am sure there is a first time. Always a possibility for errors. I would defiantly contact the dealer and express my concerns. 

[spiderman]

Billy, I use a lot of 1/8" BB and have found no voids.  My 1/8" has only three layers, a thick inside one sandwiched between two thinner outer layers. I can't say about the 1/4".

Same here I found no voids in BBP  I use 1/8 and 1/4 think plywood. But how ever I find that BBP dull the blades fast sometime you have to go though 2 blades to get something cut out.