Just found out Baltic birch plywood isn't actually from the Baltic most of the time

I read on the Woodwork Institute site that over half the 'Baltic birch' sold in the US is really just Chinese poplar with a thin birch veneer, and my last supplier in Chicago wouldn't even show me their mill source when I asked.

2 comments

2 Comments

evan511mo ago

Classic. Paying "Baltic birch" prices for glorified shipping crate material with a face so thin you could read a newspaper through it. My last sheet delaminated just from looking at it wrong, and the "birch" core had enough voids to make it look like a honeycomb. Maybe we should start calling it "Baltic myth" instead.

diana_bell741mo agoTop Commenter

You said "voids enough to make it look like a honeycomb" and man that hits close to home. I bought a few sheets last spring for a cabinet job and the first one I cut had a void big enough to stick my thumb through. I ended up having to fill it with epoxy and sawdust just to make it usable. The face veneer was so thin I could actually see the glue lines underneath like some kind of cheap veneered particle board. I swear they are just selling us leftover plywood scraps from the real Baltic birch runs. It's a total scam and I'm done falling for it.