So I was looking in Home Depot the other day in lumber section. I’ve never seen anything anywhere actually labeled with the words “Baltic Birch.” So is this it? Is there more than one type of birch plywood, different grades? Seems like the price is in that ballpark but I don’t know that much about it.
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That looks like Canadian Birch, good stuff but not the equivalent of Birch from Finland or Russia. The plywood in the panel looks to be 5 ply for a 1/2 inch sheet... Baltic would be perhaps 11 or 12 ply for the metric equivalent.
You pretty much meet to go to a woodworking specialty store to get Baltic Birch. It's great stuff for furniture, don't really need it for benchwork
It’s in short supply and when you find it, expect to pay crazy prices. Here in NC, the cost for a sheet of 3/4 is well over a $120.00.
Description with an end view: https://forestplywood.com/blog...ood-vs-baltic-birch/
Overkill and needless expense for a train layout.
I second the recommendation to pose your question at a woodworking specialty shop...not one of the Big Box guys.
For example, in our town (mid-Michigan) we have Michigan Lumber...been around for 100+ years...a 'haunt' for the serious woodworker/cabinetmaker, offering custom millwork, quality wood products,...and knowledgeable staff.
I have always bought my baltic birch plywood at Boulter Plywood in Medford, Mass - just outside of Boston. They carry a huge range of specialized plywoods. Their website claims they are experts at shipping world-wide.
It's way expensive now, but when I bought my wood for the layout in 2019, the difference between sandy-ply 1/2" and Baltic Birch 1/2" was about $50-60 for the whole layout. There is no contest in working with the two woods, the Baltic Birch is a pleasure to use!
FWIW, I went to a plywood specialty store, and when I bought the Baltic Birch in 5 x 5 sheets, it was $23.75 a sheet. The 1/2" sandy ply plywood at Home Depot in 4 x 8 sheets was around $20/ea.
I've used baltic birch in doll house building as well as on my layout - if you are simply looking for a flat surface that will be covered by scenery I agree that baltic birch is over kill. A 4 x 8 sheet can easily cost $200 depending on your market. Having said that, there are some advantages to baltic birch. There are never any voids, and the stuff is much easier to work with than less expensive grades. I have a large layout, built using the open grid approach described in Linn Wescott's book published decades ago. Track is on 1/2 inch by 3 inch plywood strips cut out and supported on risers. That involved a lot of cutting; I never regretted the one time investment. There was also a bonus: it took ten or twelve years to scenic the entire layout - the baltic birch was a lot nicer to look at before it got covered...
It can also depend on whether you are going to put a top sheet of Homasote or 1"-2" foam over the plywood.
The top sheet material will generally cover any voids or imperfections in lower grade plywood so, if you're going to do that, it seems me that if you can find good, flat regular grade plywood, it makes more economic sense to use that rather than pay for expensive veneer-type plywood that's just going to end up being covered up.
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