Need help on price for Baltic Birch plywood

[BillZ]

I found a guy with 4 5x5 sheets of 1/2" Baltic Birch and he wants to sell them for $40 each. Is that a good price? Before I drive out there should I ask any other questions?

[synaps3]

That seems a bit high to me...

I think the Home Depot near me had 4x8's for around that price.

[BillZ]

:thinking:

That seems a bit high to me...

I think the Home Depot near me had 4x8's for around that price.

Your home depot has Baltic Birch?
I thought that was something the big box stores don't usually stock.

[Rock]

Too far away to be useful but Toledo Plywood has them for half that price, and 4 X 8 BB for less than he wants for 5 X 5.

http://www.toledoplywood.com/hardwood.asp

Eric

[BillZ]

Too far away to be useful but Toledo Plywood has them for half that price, and 4 X 8 BB for less than he wants for 5 X 5.

http://www.toledoplywood.com/hardwood.asp

Eric

Things could be more expensive around here but that is a big difference. Could it be a lower grade of ply or is it all pretty much the same?

[boomboomtulum]

This seller may have paid 40.00 a sheet 1-2 years ago but the price has really come down.
I pay 19.95 for 1/2 BB, here in Calif. at Hughes Hardwoods, 5x5 only of course.
You will not find BB at any HD or Lowes I have ever seen or heard of, or any plywood worth anything. Now I love those stores but will never by ply from them. Just my opinion....

Dave

[BillZ]

This seller may have paid 40.00 a sheet 1-2 years ago but the price has really come down.
I pay 19.95 for 1/2 BB, here in Calif. at Hughes Hardwoods, 5x5 only of course.
You will not find BB at any HD or Lowes I have ever seen or heard of, or any plywood worth anything. Now I love those stores but will never by ply from them. Just my opinion....

Dave

Good to know. Thanks!

[afreegreek]

remember there is a difference between baltic birch plywood and plywood with birch face veneers. they are not the same thing. baltic birch usually comes 5x5 and if it does it is for sure baltic birch but it is also available in 4x8.. in this size you have to make sure it's what you want rather than standard plywood with birch face veneers.

for those looking for ply that has the same characteristics as baltic birch in 4x8 and 4x10 you can buy what is known as Appleply.

http://www.statesind.com/pdf/ApplePly.pdf

[rasp]

there is a big difference in price for 5x5 birch. Russian birch is sometimes sold as baltic birch and is about 1/2 the price of true Baltic. The best and most expensive of the imported birch plywoods comes Finland.

[BillZ]

Hmmm....
I politely gave the guy an offer under $20 a sheet and he seemed offended.
He asked me to tell him who sold it around here for under $40 a sheet.

It's after 6:00 and most of the lumberyards are closed by now but I can't find it for less than $45 per sheet of 5x5.


Do I just live in the land of expensive wood?

[afreegreek]

Hmmm....
I politely gave the guy an offer under $20 a sheet and he seemed offended.
He asked me to tell him who sold it around here for under $40 a sheet.

It's after 6:00 and most of the lumberyards are closed by now but I can't find it for less than $45 per sheet of 5x5.

Do I just live in the land of expensive wood?

1/2" plywood 5'x5' is equal to 12-1/2 board feet. that's under $4.00 a board foot.. not so expensive to me..

anyway baltic birch is not just some poor grade softwood veneer slapped together to form a stable substrate to apply face veneers to like a lot of plywood products are.. it is basically face grade veneers throughout carefully assembled so there is no voids or overlaps in the core plies. that is what you're paying for. you should consider yourself lucky to be able to get such a product. at one time veneer core plywood of this quality was so labour intensive that only Kings and Pharos could afford it. now you can pick it up for a couple of hours wages.

[schaney]

Bilz, you might check woodfinder.com to see who the specialty wood places around you to see if you can find a better deal.

[BillZ]

Hmmm....
I politely gave the guy an offer under $20 a sheet and he seemed offended.
He asked me to tell him who sold it around here for under $40 a sheet.

It's after 6:00 and most of the lumberyards are closed by now but I can't find it for less than $45 per sheet of 5x5.

Do I just live in the land of expensive wood?

1/2" plywood 5'x5' is equal to 12-1/2 board feet. that's under $4.00 a board foot.. not so expensive to me..

anyway baltic birch is not just some poor grade softwood veneer slapped together to form a stable substrate to apply face veneers to like a lot of plywood products are.. it is basically face grade veneers throughout carefully assembled so there is no voids or overlaps in the core plies. that is what you're paying for. you should consider yourself lucky to be able to get such a product. at one time veneer core plywood of this quality was so labour intensive that only Kings and Pharos could afford it. now you can pick it up for a couple of hours wages.

Maybe I should have explained my level of expertise.

You could say $10 per board foot is a good price and I wouldn't know any better.

I have read about what BB is and understand that it is good quality ply. I never bought any kind of ply before so I have nothing to compare other than others were saying $20 was what they paid.

[afreegreek]

Hmmm....
I politely gave the guy an offer under $20 a sheet and he seemed offended.
He asked me to tell him who sold it around here for under $40 a sheet.

It's after 6:00 and most of the lumberyards are closed by now but I can't find it for less than $45 per sheet of 5x5.

Do I just live in the land of expensive wood?

1/2" plywood 5'x5' is equal to 12-1/2 board feet. that's under $4.00 a board foot.. not so expensive to me..

anyway baltic birch is not just some poor grade softwood veneer slapped together to form a stable substrate to apply face veneers to like a lot of plywood products are.. it is basically face grade veneers throughout carefully assembled so there is no voids or overlaps in the core plies. that is what you're paying for. you should consider yourself lucky to be able to get such a product. at one time veneer core plywood of this quality was so labour intensive that only Kings and Pharos could afford it. now you can pick it up for a couple of hours wages.

I have read about what BB is and understand that it is good quality ply. I never bought any kind of ply before so I have nothing to compare other than others were saying $20 was what they paid.

yup, at $20.00 a sheet it was likely birch veneer plywood, the same ply as you can get with a number of different face veneers such as oak, maple, mahogany etc. and not true baltic birch plywood. if it was the real stuff they got a real good deal. wood is a commodity and prices rise and fall due to demand so it's not the same from one day to the next but $40.00 to $60.00 a sheet is pretty much the norm for BB ply.. (CDN $$$)

anyway, if the 5x size works good for your plans get BB cause it's one of the only sheet goods that come that wide normally but if your plans would better suit 4x size, check out Appleply. it's basically the same as BB but comes in 4x8 and 4x10 it's also made in the USA so it may be a better deal at the time you buy because international exchange, duty, taxes and tariffs can effect the cost one day to the next making one a better deal than the other at any given time. price per sq. ft. (not sheet to sheet, 25 vs 32 sq. ft per sheet) is comparable (give or take) to BB most of the time.

one thing Appleply has that BB doesn't, is it's available prefinnished 1 or 2 sides with a high quality UV resistant finish... comes in several colours too. sold under the name NOVA-PLY

[aggie79]

In our area, 1/2" (12mm) Russian Birch with BB/BB faces goes for $24 for a 5' x 5' sheet.