Seattle folks -- local supplier for 3mm baltic birch ply or other staple woods?

Beyond the Manual
#1

Before I buy Woodpeckers 3mm baltic birch on Amazon I thought I would ask if anyone knew a place in the Seattle area which may provide a better option.

Rockler and Woodcraft have 3mm BB ply, but it does cost more than Woodpeckers. If their ply is dramatically better quality, it still may be worth it.

Dunn Lumber seems to have no craft-style wood other than those MDF+veneer “doorskins.”

HD seems to have no 1/8 ply at all, though they have some craft-style hardwoods like poplar and oak.

Martin in Everett has a lot of cool stuff. They do list a 5’ x 5’ sheet of 1/8" BB ply at $23. That brings the price per square foot to about a buck… not counting gas and the hassle of cutting it down.

Martin also has big sheets of 1/8" A3 mahogany ply for about $0.55/sq ft.

Anyone have experience with the Martin 1/8 plywoods?

Am I overlooking any other vendors?

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#2

In my opinion, the Rockler baltic birch is better than the Woodpeckers stuff from Amazon, but not enough to justify the price difference. Sacrifice the worst sheets to test cuts and prototypes and you’ll still be ahead cost-wise.

Another place to try is Crosscut Hardwoods down on First Ave S (south of Spokane St.). They have 5x5 sheets of 1/8" BB. Not sure about the price, but in my limited experience with them in the past they’re usually in the “expensive but worth it” category. Besides baltic birch, they have a wide variety of hardwood-veneer plywoods with and MDF core, though most only go down to 1/4".

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#3

Rockler will cut it down for you, too. I just had them rip a 12x30 for me.

My local Ace has fairly nice-looking BB and 1/32" veneer, though it’s far more convenient than it is cheap.

#4

In Atlanta I get 5’x5’ sheets of 1/8 B.B. for $15.50, just as a reference. My shop will cut it down to 12x20 pieces for free, too.

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#5

The rest of us here hate you :wink:

A full sheet of BB is twice that here in CT. I’ve been buying it and cutting it down on the table saw for years but will also buy the 48 pack from Amazon when I’m lazy :slight_smile:

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#6

Where? For a large enough order it could be worth the drive.

#7

Atlanta hardwoods. Northwest side of town.

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#8

Thanks!

#9

If anybody knows of suppliers in the Bremerton area, just on the other side of the sound, that’d be great!

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#10

I searched for “hardwoods bremerton WA” on google maps.

http://www.edensaw.com

These guys look pretty great. Given how simple the search was, I assume there’s something wrong with them?

They list 5x5 BB for $13. They also seem to carry a ton of interesting stuff under “craftwood”, but their prices seem about in line with Woodcraft locations.

I’d recommend Green Valley if you’re shopping on price, they come in at 40-50% savings over these guys. Previously discussed here:

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#11

Oh also Kitsap lumber seems to carry some good stuff, but I didn’t vet the site much.

http://www.kitsaplumber.com/

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#12

I cannot find any plywood at all at Green Valley’s web site. I found some non-Baltic birch on their ebay but the shipping is murder at $38 to WA.

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#13

Sorry yeah I meant for hardwoods. I get my ply locally but weird hardwoods like wenge and purpleheart. Green valley is great for hardwoods.

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#14

Chinook lumber is just down the road from me and has a few 1/8" choices. Prices are listed on their website if you add it to cart. http://www.chinooklumber.com/

#15

Second for Cross Cut Hardwoods in SODO. I’ve used them a lot over the years for wood projects. Not the cheapest place around but good quality, honest, and just walking around the wood racks there is awesome. I’m still working off of shop scraps but will probably be hitting them up in the next month as well.

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#16

Crosscut’s also a few blocks for our office - I have been buying hardwoods there for years. They’re great.

Also a friendly reminder that threads about lasering non-Glowforge materials go in Beyond the Manual so they don’t get flagged.

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#17

Hi folks, just stumbled across this thread. Not sure it’s still relevant, but I just spoke to Crosscut hardwoods in Seattle, they have 3mm baltic birch in 5x5’ for approx. $15, with the downside that both faces are BB (read potentially plugged), but of course you can pick and choose your sheets. They of course also have thicker material which I am just mentioning because it was of interest to me as well, baltic birch in 6mm retails for approx. $22 for a 5x5’ sheet and $42 for a 4x8’ sheet.

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#18

Great info, thanks. At $15/sheet I can live with some plugs.

#19

Thought so as well. One thing to note though: what I have not been able to check yet is how much you’ll have to deal with glue that you can’t cut through. Not sure I can bring a bright enough light to the store to inspect each sheet :wink: , so it’ll likely come down to buying a few sheets and seeing how it goes.

#20

In general, baltic is baltic. I would bring calipers before i’d bring a light. Thickness variations are a bigger deal… I’ve gotten .13 and .12 thick from the same vendor, and had much easier time with the .12 stuff.