I just went down to my local lumber supplier to pick up a sheet of Baltic Birch plywood. He informed me that their supply was abruptly drying up—something to do with the war in Ukraine and the supply coming mostly from Russia. I was wondering if anyone else has run into this?
The second question, naturally, is what to use instead? I don’t do a whole lot of cabinet building but rather use it mostly for jigs and some shop furniture where stability and structural integrity is important. My current project is making a batch of Bob Van Dyke’s zero clearance tablesaw inserts. I frequently use MDF, but consider them different animals with somewhat different applications.
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Even before the war broke out, I was running into this due to the supply chain disruptions. Some of our local suppliers refuse to even purchase it because they feel there was no money to be made unless they charge $150+ a sheet.
There are a few ways to ask for baltic birch, baltic birch being a generic term for high grade voidless multiply. If a place says they’re out of 4x8 sheets, ask if they have 5x5. If no still, ask for euro or apple ply. There are Chinese versions as well, though I’ve found them to be much inferior, Still decent for shop applications. I’m gravitating towards medex for jigs and such, and europly when making furniture and cabinets.
I haven't seen a shortage locally, but the prices are bonkers. I forget what I last paid, but my lumberyards stopped posting plywood prices online.
I mean the name Baltic birch says where it comes from (the Baltics) although there is plenty sold that way from other sources.
If you are going to a good lumber supplier, start by taking to them about what they have, and what you want to do. My lumber yard is happy to help me figure out what will work best for me, and part of why I go back.
For what you are doing just about any cabinet grade plywood would work fine, as long as it doesn't have many voids. Something cheep but stay away from the box /home improvement store
Check out Shannon Rodgers, (Rennaissance Woodworker) latest Podcast on "Shannon's Lumber Industry Update). It is all about this very subject and as it is affected by the war in Ukraine
User 2428806,
Wow. Great resource, thanks. Answered my question and a lot more. Am going to bookmark this page and meander through his extensive library of wood related educational podcasts. For anyone interested in the episode on Baltic birch plywood you mentioned, it is: https://www.lumberupdate.com/73-alternatives-to-russian-birch-plywood/
I consider it unavailable until Russian relations are better, which is looking like a long time. I buy 9mm 5x5 by the skid, 3-5 times a year. During the past 12 months it has been difficult to find , so I bought two skids in August, that was the last time I've seen it available. My supplier had some 3/4 and 1/2" so I bought a bunch of that for future needs. Even Europly uses BB as the substrate so what will happen there?
I don't see any viable alternatives, so maybe some US maker will step up???
I just checked my local suppliers and, for what it's worth, they are all still stocking Baltic birch. It's crazy expensive...but it seems to still be available if you can get the financing.
Agreed that it is available and expensive. However, according to my sources there are no shipments on the horizon, so no new bb hitting our ports.
I just had a flooring supplier inform us that they may not be able to supply the engineered wood flooring because the flooring is made from plywood sourced from the Ukraine.
I listened to the Shannon's Lumber Industry Update episode linked upthread (interesting podcast overall). His prognosis is grim: basically we're SOL until further notice.
https://www.sveza.com/company/
yikes. Almost tagged this as spam. How about a little context for the link?
"SVEZA is a Russian company, a world leader on the birch plywood market."
https://rocketreach.co/sveza-profile_b5c9e14bf42e3161
Sorry, I taught it was self explanatory, the main supplier for Baltic birch is from St-Petersbourg in Russia.
MM Supply has Baltic Birch in stock at affordable prices call Jason at 713-373-9306 or email at [email protected]
I'd call this spam, but it might actually help someone...
agreed... this time
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