A baltic birch plywood primer
It seems like every other month or so, someone asks about Baltic Birch plywood on one of the forums I frequent. I think one of reasons so many questions exist, is because there isn’t much information on the net. The following is a basic primer on Baltic Birch plywood, generated from various internet sources I’ve come across.
Region of origin – As the name implies, Baltic Birch plywood is produced from Birch trees from the Baltic region of Europe. The two main producers appear to be Russia & Finland.
Thickness – True Baltic Birch plywood only comes in metric thicknesses. The most common sizes found in North America are 6mm, 12mm, & 18mm. Additionally 3mm, 9mm, 15mm, & 25mm can occasionally be found in a narrower range of grades.
Size – You used to only be able to find Baltic Birch plywood in 5′x5′ sheets. Recently people have reported finding 4′x8′ sheets. Supposedly Manufactures have become wise to the fact that plywood comes in 4′x8′ sheets in North America, and have started producing to that size.
Plies – Baltic Birch plywood has more plies for a given thickness that North American plywood. Additionally every ply is birch, unlike a lot of plywood of North American origin that has hardwood exterior & softwood interior plys. The following chart list ply count by thickness.
- 3mm – 3 ply
- 6mm – 5 ply
- 9mm – 7ply
- 12mm – 9 ply
- 15mm – 11 ply
- 18mm – 13 ply
- 25mm – 18 ply
Grading – Baltic Birch does not follow ANSI grading standards most are familiar with, instead the following grading scheme is used. A typical grade found in quality furniture is B/BB.
- Grade “B” – Selected one-piece face generally light and even in color. Occasional small pin knots and some brown streaks may be allowed. Intended for natural finish. No patches allowed.
- Grade “BB” – One-piece face generally light and even in color. Occasional sound tight knots are permitted but open knots and defects in BB have been cut out and replaced with small ovular or round veneer patches before gluing. The veneer selected for the patches is of the same general color as the basic face veneer.
- Grade “CP” – One-piece face very close to grade BB. Rejected from BB for small defects with more streaking. Occasional hairline splits of less than .5mm are allowed. The oval or round patches may or may not be matched for color with the base face veneer. There will normally be more patches per face than the BB grade.
- Grade “C” – One-piece utility grade veneer. Open defects and open splits are allowed.
The following images are of some Baltic Birch plywood of Russian origin I purchased a few days ago.
A quick way to Identify Baltic Birch of Russian origin is look for a stamp/marking that contains cyrillic characters.
This is how Baltic Birch normally looks, plies of consistent thickness, and free of voids. If voids do occur, they are usually very small.
Defects are uncommon, but still possible in Baltic Birch. This is the only one I found in the 5 sheets I purchased.
A typical patch, note how small and well fitted it is.
Indeed a very informative article, that clears up several questions that people have in regard to Baltic Birch Plywood. I would like to point out some misconceptions that people tend to have in regards to Baltic Birch plywood. Well first of all 8×4 or 4×8 sizes have been always available on the market, but those have been primarily used in heavy industries. Baltic Birch is very well known for it’s strength (bending properties) and wear resistance, that is where you see 4×8 being used as industrial flooring, container flooring and other heavy duty flooring applications. Just sheer life span and resistance to abuse of Baltic Birch flooring is amazing. Also 4×8 sheets are used in concrete form work and again just because it can be used over and over again. The reason why you see most of the lumber yards and suppliers carry 5×5 sheets is because it is being thought that 5×5 sheets produce less leftovers and can be cut very efficiently in cabinet making and furniture industries. Another factor that has been keeping 5×5 trend going is milling machines and laser cutting machines where most of the programming is configured for most common standard, that is 5×5. Recently there has been a trend that leans toward using 4×8 or 8×4 sheets since this size is easier to transport and there are many other applications that require Baltic Birch Plywood in such size. Another interesting misconception that people have is as to a true standard of Baltic Birch. Sometimes people settle for a product that is made in China an is claimed to be a true Baltic Birch. In fact ask yourself a simple question “where is China and where is Baltic Sea” well we talking about 10,000 mile difference between regions. So once someone goes to the store and claims they got a bargain on Baltic Birch for half the price, well that is just a simple lie, unless bought in quantity from a wholesaler. Just think of it, cut in Europe and brought for processing to Asia hmmm, on top of that Russian Rail Roads are notorious for being very very expensive. So how is it cheaper? Well answer is simple, so what you really getting from Baltic Birch that is stamped Made In China? Well you are getting two veneers of birch, on top and bottom and you get good old pine or poplar in the middle. What is most disappointing in this matter is in fact that the whole concept of strong and durable product is gone and on top of that a bad name is given. So please beware of such misconception. I hope that my contribution will be of help, and good luck with your Baltic Birch Plywood projects.
I am interesting in installing a plywood floor in the living/dining room and kitchen (approximately 1,000 sq. ft) of my mid-century home. My contractor is concerned about the longevity of plywood as a flooring material given the high traffic these rooms receive. Anyone know how Baltic Birch plywood floors look after a few years of use? I am also hoping to avoid having the screw heads or plugs visible – has anyone done this?
Thanks
Toby
Toby,
Don’t use plywood for the top surface of a floor, it’s not hard enough. In home construction, plywood should only be used as a sub-flooring.
Hello Dan!
Thank you for the Baltic birch info. I think you are knowledgable and maybe can give me advice on a project. Cost is a factor. I saw some artwork that was made up of about a 2″ plywood frame. The only part of this frame exposed was the sides that have the light and dark plys. Clearly two or more sheets were laminated together to make 2″. The exposed plys were perfectly planed and had a light clear coat.
My question is, are you aware of any plywood that has the light and dark plys like the baltic birch, that would be least expensive? Considering only the ply side would be seen, and the surface ply facing the wall, or glued to the underside of the painting.
Some of the pieces I will be working with are 48″ x 60″ but the width of the frame would only be inch or 2.
I hope you check these older posts. i didn’t find anywhere to contact you directly.
Well, thanks M
Hi Max,
Pretty much any plywood will have the appearance of light and Dark plies once finished. This is because of the orientation of the individual plies, Each ply is rotated 90 degrees to the previous ply. Thus when you cut through a sheet, and expose the edges what you get is long grain, end grain, long grain, end grain etc. End grain absorbs more finish than long grain, so it usually takes on a darker color than long grain. How drastic the difference in color is will depend on the finishing method being used.
With regard to type, I thing grade CP would work fine for your application, as long as you get get lucky and don’t happen to expose a void while cutting the sheet to size.