Id order from rockler but they decided to mess with my credit card at one point so I will never order from them again. 

Other places stock it.

 

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=baltic+birch+plywood+3%2F4+inch+4x8&crid=1JHDYMYM1AJZH&sprefix=baltic+birch%2Chpc%2C180&ref=nb_sb_ss_fb_1_12_ts-doa-p

 

Edited February 26, 20215 yr by HandyDan

I have seen a lot of the Chinese crap plywood in upholstered furniture and in the few pieces I bought before I quit and looked for domestic only or Baltic birch.   I call it 3/4"  7-13 layer plywood, depending on where you look -- voids, overlapping plies on the same layer, layers that have the structural integrity of a handful of straw, and glued together with the red glue that doesn't hold, and severe warps to the point it's hard to cut on a power saw.  Fool me once, etc.

I don't know why I'm being so stubborn with this lamentation stuff.  Ugh I had just enough wood left to do the small sized blank the smallest bar length they had up.  This time I did something a bit different.  I put quite a bit of glue down I also threw into the mix of glue some CA glue so hopefully that should help out quite a bit more.  This time absolutely NO ply board what so ever.  I think this is Birch or Maple.  Not exactly sure but it was from a batch I bought from home depot a while back.  At least tomorrow I'll have my forstner bit extensions so I should be able to bore all the way through this one at least if I get to it at the point and hope it doesnt blow apart on me.  I brought this inside the house again to cure...

 

 

 

In browsing thru the posts here I find several problems.

 

1. wide areas of glued surface does not set in ONE day. A 3/4 joint yes but not 3 to 4 inchs.

 

2. Speeds in excess of 1k are too fast for forstner bits. Max is usually around 700 and excessive speed will cause the bit to lose temper.

 

3. Higher speed will cause joint failure in more cases and a lower speed in the 700 range will reduce that possibility and any possibility of better cuts cn be taken care of by using sharp tools.

 

4. Higher speeds will cause plywood to split. Not a problem you had but it it a increased probability.

 

Why not buy a 4 x 4 if you want to do this in pine? Cost a little more but much less frustration.

Not exactly sure about pine but I may give that a go at some point.  Guess I'll keep it at the lower range when I run this one.

Well this one is going to be okay so far a bit of wood filler in the cracks will work.  How ever this one so far has NOT split apart on me in the RPM spins with added pressure so I think the CA glue and glue worked.  How ever I think with the gaps I may have used way way too much of it.  But that's okay because this first one will be mine to test the parts I received from wood craft just wish there was a better place to get parts from that wasn't as expensive as woodcraft.

 

 

 

 

Maybe some of the problems with the glue separation is that your surfaces are not completely flat. Those cracks, that are showing, indicate the wood pieces were not in contact at that point.

 

For PVA (TiteBond) glue joints to obtain maximum strength, the two surface must be in contact over the entire pieces. TiteBond doesn't have any strength as a gap filler.

That's quite possible since I do not have a planner...  I should probably invest in one.

If you plan on doing mostly laminated work, a table saw with a good blade will work fine for pieces sized small enough to be re-sawn on the table saw. A 10" blade can re-saw about 3" in one pass. A well tuned bandsaw can do the same thing, depending on its capabilities. 

 

It's a lot cheaper, and more fun to find the tree guys, around your area, and ask them for some "hard" wood logs. Maple, Oak, Ash- what ever is prevalent in your area. Turning them is easier and you aren't wasting a lot of expensive purchased wood and glue. Get practice on them. You have all the tools you need in your arsenal! 

Yea I honestly need a table saw as well.... I've been looking to get one.  As far as the mill goes I think this one will work out.  So far no issues except for the cracks.  How ever I still think with a bit of wood filler I'll have to wait till Monday to get that but I think this one is actually starting to look like a pepper grinder.  Still have to shape the top but I want to wait a bit for that because I want to do a joint so it fits into the 1 1/16 inch hole once I cut those.  I think this time its going a bit smoother I left myself with extra room for the cut and the tenons.  I will also be able to run the bits all the way through with out having to switch the sides so I shouldn't have any issues with the alignment at least.

 

 

Bad news is the mill body I started carving out didn't work.  The mandril worked SOME what.  I think I'll have to re do it entirely now that I have the all thread or maybe I wont need it if I'm going to continue to stick to the smaller blanks and do the 6 inch ones instead of the big ones.  But once I got it on the mandril I noticed that the cracks started opening up even more.  Either way I know a mandril can work now at least.  As far as hollowing I think I'll do all my own hollowing and just buy the blanks separately.  Learning curves but it works.

 

 

 

 

On my Shopsmith, I use the 12" sanding disk sometimes to get my wood smooth.  I simply pass it by the sanding disk as if it were on the table saw.  I'll have to show that sometime.  Or if you have access to a jointer, it will also work very well.  

Unfortunately I don't have a shop smith....  How ever I did buy a 4x4 8 footer this morning from home depot.  I had them cut it in half to 4 foot sections but fortunately I have a nice little miter saw that I can cut down to size with.  Either way I think that should work.  The 4x4 is not pine but fir.