I did See 1/4" Baltic Birch ply at Menards yesterday in 4x8 sheets. I want to say is was around $34.
I can’t speak to quality. Both faces looked quite nice.
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Did you get a look at the manufacturer’s name? That’s Birch ply pricing but about 1/2 what the 4x8 BB manufacturers usually charge. They should have a mfg certificate if it’s really Baltic Birch and not just Birch. If there’s a patch on the backside it’s a unique bowtie-ish shape.
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It was labeled BB, I’ll check next time I’m there and let you know.
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You should ask them to price match their online price!
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It’s Halex “Baltic Birch”. Also sold as Arctic Birch.
Their stuff is usually Russian sourced. It’s not necessarily made to the Baltic Birch EU specification but it is better than standard Birch plywood. It is (supposed to be) all Birch but the glues are variable. For 1/8 & probably 1/4" it’s probably not far off from the ply count required but in thicker sizes it tends to use fewer (30-40%) inner plies. For our uses they really can’t cut down the ply count because we’re only dealing with 3 or 4 plies in the spec’ed stuff. For thicker ones where 12 plies turns into 8 thicker plies you lose a bit of the structural integrity as there are fewer grain alternations.
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So, I have been cutting with the 5mm underlayment and so far so good. After a few tests and trails, I settled on these settings for pretty consistent cutting:
Power: Full Power
Speed: 130
Focus Height: 0.198"
These settings can probably be improved on, but this is what works. After transporting the material to a drier climate, a lot of it has a little bit of a warp. If the material is flat, then you could probably go faster.
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I am at the point where I have gone through 3 4’x8’ sheets of this material, and it still seems to work well. There was some warping which leads to some poor cuts. However, for less than $1 per 12"x20" sheet, I can handle that.
I am still cutting at the same settings listed above. However, the sides are pretty black, but no more so than what I have come to experience on thicker material.
This coming weekend I will be picking up some more of this material. It will probably be a workhorse material for me going forward as well.
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I’ve been cutting this material as well. Full power at 150 (on my Basic) has cut reliably so far; I’m going to keep ramping up the speed slightly until it fails to cut all the way through.
I’m curious why you chose to focus at .198" instead of .2? Is that the actual thickness you are measuring, or are you intentionally focusing slightly under the surface? (I’m brand new to this, so I welcome your insights.)
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That was the dimension I measured with calipers.
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I’ve used quite a bit of this thus far. Settings similar to the rest here (150/full)
I’ve been having success with 175 @ Full (Basic) with my local batch. The edges are less charred than at 150, and everything thus far has cut fully through. My test samples worked at 180 also, but with 185 failing to punch through, 175 seemed like a safer bet.
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After further projects (several wooden jigsaw puzzles), I have indeed run into a few spots where 175 (or even 165) barely fails to cut all the way through. So at this point I concur with 150 as a reliable cut speed for this material.
Also, having tried various engraving settings, I am really liking “vary by power” at 1000 speed/100 power for engraving gray-scale graphics.
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Sadly our Home depot doesn’t carry it here, but I did find this “1/4 in. x 2 ft. x 2 ft. Gaboon Virola Plywood” but can’t find out what glue it uses. Would this be safe?
I really cannot comment for sure.
If you want to figure it out, you can look at what glues that material is made with. Then look up what is put out when you set that glue on fire.
If it is interior glue, you are generally ok.
Then try some small and quick test cuts. Look at the quality of the cut, if it chars a lot, etc… Also, see if there are any unusual smells.
If it cuts ok, and smells like basic burnt wood, and does not have nasty chemicles in it, then you should be ok.
I just want to add… I had been going to Home Depot to get my 5mm underlayment cut into 2ft by 4ft sections and then cutting them down the rest of the way at home. But today I had an epiphany! I had the guy them into 19 inch sections.
Then I cut them down t home into 19 x 12, for total of 20 pieces!
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I have been doing that and commenting on doing it that way for about a year now. At first, I was cutting the 48" pieces to 3x9" and 2x10" so getting a total of 25 pieces before realizing that I can use the pass-through and use only as much as I need. 
By making overlaps I could have 2 18 x 11 parts that was 4 " at one end on a 19x 19 inch piece with some left over.
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I tried to create the gift of good measure on the 5mm underlayment and it came out charred and never actual cut all the way through. Would someone mind posting their settings here? I set the cut as shown in the pictures but something must be wrong.
I don’t have personal experience with this material, but in one of the posts in this thread a speed of 150 was suggested. Please note, however, that this post is 2 years old and changes have been made to the Glowforge. Your best bet is to use one of the material testing templates to work out your optimum speed and power settings. It is quite possible that the material you are using is a bit different than what others have used. With all non Proofgrade material, a few minutes of testing will save lots of material and time in the long run.
Very few material manufacturers are thinking about laser cutting - they make their material to be cut with saw blades and the like. So be prepared to have your settings work in October and then not work in December on a different piece of the same material. I mainly use non-proofgrade and this is just something you have to be prepared for.
FWIW, my setting for Lauan underlayment is 145/Full (on my Pro) and I’ve rarely had issues. Every sheet will vary, however, so it’s always a good idea to test on offcuts or unused areas in the design. It’s also very apparent that the makeup of the layers can change drastically from one part of the sheet to another, so be prepared to check cut-thru carefully before moving the material.
This is one reason Proofgrade is worth paying for. I only use Lauan for projects where appearance is secondary to function.
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