Birch Plywood

Baltic birch plywood is a favorite among woodworkers and hobbyists for its smooth surface, strength, and attractive appearance. Unlike other types of plywood that have holes and gaps – especially along the edges - Baltic birch gives you a super clean edge that can be sanded and finished. This makes it a perfect choice when designing your workbench plans or shop furniture plans. In fact, the high-quality veneer construction has so few defects that many furniture builders design their projects to included the exposed layers as a decorative feature of piece. It’s also a favorite choice for scroll saw projects, which often highlight the veneer layers.

You’ll also find woodworkers using Baltic birch plywood in shop accessories and jigs. It’s much lighter than MDF – yet stronger and more stable. That means less chance of warping, shrinking, or swelling – which can make a big difference in maintaining the accuracy of your shop tool jigs.

As the name implies, Baltic birch originates in Europe – primarily the north areas of Russia and Finland. Much of the quality that Baltic birch is known for can be attributed to the quality of trees that grow in these regions. Birch from Finland is probably the better quality – featuring a surface that is virtually free of any defects or imperfections. Less expensive sheets are available, but will have a few defects that have been repaired with patches.

Birch from Russia is somewhat lesser in quality than what you normally see from Finland, with more noticeable defects in both sides. Russian birch plywood Russian birch plywood is considered to be just a few steps behind Finland birch in quality, because you will rarely find Russian birch plywood with two perfectly clean faces. Still, Russian birch has layers of veneer that are void-free, which makes it perfect for scroll saw cuts. Once you have cut your pieces, it is easy to cleanly finish the edges to produce a beautiful finished project. Your lumber supplier should be able to point you in the right direction if you decide to use Baltic birch plywood.