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I live in an area where it is very hard to get Baltic Birch plywood for jigs, fixtures, workboards, etc. The big box stores won’t order it for me, and there are no decent local lumber yards around here any more (despite the fact that WV is a lumber producing state). Woodcraft carries Baltic Birch, but not in full 60” square sheets, and there is quite a mark-up on what they do carry. I could drive to a large city to buy it, but that type of round trip is literally an all day thing, just to buy decent plywood.

Some of you might be in the same boat, so I wanted to share my solution. There is a wood supplier in California named Cherokee Wood Products that will ship a box of four 24” x 48” pieces of Baltic Birch (either 1/2” or 3/4” thick) for a pretty decent price. Here is the eBay link:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Baltic-Birch-P ... 2749.l2648

I ordered a box of 1/2” thick material a few months ago, and recently ordered a box of 3/4” thick material. Both survived the trip pretty well. A few corners were dinged a little, but nothing bad.

When I add up the time and expense of driving to get Baltic Birch, taking advantage of this eBay store winds up being an easy call for me.

I hope this is helpful.

Another similar type of multi-ply plywood sometimes carried by home depot and other big box stores is appleply. It may be more economical and have similar qualities.

www.statesind.com/product/appleply

Clay—

I have tried pretty hard to find Appleply near me. I can’t speak for every podunk town, but Appleply is even harder to source around here than Baltic Birch, unless some retailers are sneaking in Appleply (obtained from a wholesaler), cutting it up, and selling it as the better known Baltic Birch. Which is darn frustrating, since Appleply is a domestic product. But you are right; if it is available to you, Appleply is supposed to be great stuff.

I have a Woodcraft 90 miles away, so I don’t normally order via their website, but I looked at their Baltic Birch shipping options. You can get 30” x 48” sheets shipped, which is a pretty good size sheet, but the shipping cost drives the cost substantially higher than the Cherokee Wood Products options I referenced above.

Good lumber yards that carry Baltic Birch will give you a great price on it, but you have to go there to get it. Which brings me back to my local availability problem. Nobody local carries it, nobody local will special order it. I either drive to go get it at a reasonable price or pay to have it shipped. The eBay listing I gave is the best deal I have found for shipping it.

Does it have to be baltic birch?

I mean it's nice to have and all that but I've seen so many jigs, molds, etc. made from standard plywood without any issue.

If you can't get it, well just use whatever you can get.

For many years nobody sells birch ply in Taiwan and getting it from anywhere involves paying really big money, so I never used it.

Now they're available for around 60 dollars per 4x8 sheet however.

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Baltic birch, Russian birch, apple ply, multi-ply - they are all very similar. I use small pieces of it for end blocks because of it's strength and stability.
For molds I use scraps of 3/4 inch maple or birch plywood. I can usually find scraps at no cost. It's part of the "root hog or die" philosophy I subscribe to.

You might think about just going to to a cabinet shop an ordering a piece though them. All cabinet shops order direct through bog wholesale suppliers. Generally the prices aren't that bad. I'm a Genral contractor so I purchase a lot of plywood in bulk but Ive see guys buying scraps as well from cabinet shops.

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I appreciate all the suggestions. I’ve certainly used plenty of lower grade plywood for jigs, molds, etc., and still do. There are times when I want something more stable and permanent, so Baltic Birch is a better choice. Regarding higher grade hardwood plywood from a custom cabinet shop, I frankly have to weigh the cost of that favor I am asking for versus the cost of shipping (per the source in my original post). If you have a good personal relationship with a custom cabinet shop, that might be a good option. I’m not close enough friends with the cabinet makers I know to pull in that kind of favor. So, I am OK with what I’m doing.