building w/ baltic birch

Geoff Schroeder

Geoff Schroeder

Member
Good afternoon all.

I'm thinking of organizing a group build of pond boxes (at least 4, maybe more), as per the Sanford recipe, and Baltic Birch was suggested. it comes 3 or 6 mm, 5'x 5', and $28 per sheet. Is there any reason we ought stay away? We're a pretty tight fisted bunch, but the plan is to glass one as a test and decide on paint vs. glass from there.

as always, thanks.
geoff
 
Someone on here built a real nice boat with it last year.
He was impressed with it and said it was easy to work with.
In his case only time will tell. I think he was from Wisconsin
maybe he will jump in.
Good luck John
 
If you are tight fisted with your money then use fir ACX plywood and paint them if you are not going to be keeping these boxes wet all season. If you let the boxes dry and store them out of the sun they don't need to be water proofed with epoxy. However, the epoxy will make them stronger, but add some weight to them.

The other boat mentioned was built out of birch underlayment which is a different product than the 5x5 stuff. The 5x5 stuff is cabinet grade wood while the underlayment has patches and what not in its face plys. Still uses a quality "water proof" glue between the plys.

The problem with the 5x5 birch is that you will have to join two pieces to make the sides and floor of the box. It is better to use a full length piece of plywood and not have any joints in it.
 
I would stay away from Baltic Birch. It is a great interior plywood but not exterior. Birch has a real tendancy to warp when wet. Go with Western cedar or pine boards.
 
I used a scrap piece of 3/4 birch for a small skiff stern .Completely delaminated/fell apart. Obviously was not made with exterior/waterproof glue.
 
hmmm....better rethink the birch. The guy at the specialty lumber yard assured me it was made with waterproof glues, too. can anyone let me know if there are different grades of glues or, at least, different brand names/names of waterproof glues? again, thanks for the help.
 
It appears to me that plywood is a commodity. If you buy exterior grade plywood, you can probably count on it being contructed with exterior grade glues. Buy cabinet grade or any interior grade & who knows?

The specific birch plywood that failed for me had a bunch of thin plys so I thought I was safe - and I was wrong.

Here is a website of a guy on Cape Cod who builds Brockway style skiffs. www.oldwharf.com. He underlayment fir plywood.
 
Geoff,
I think the others have covered the baltic birch issue. It does not work well when wet and will not last even if epoxy is used if the water gets thru at all.
Fir ply wood is the next on the cost scale and works well, but the veneers that are used now are not as good as the old days. But the exterior glue is the same for marine or exterior and is heat cured.
If you dont leave the sanford boxes out all year and only float them when hunting you will be fine. More expensive marine ply is nicer to work and will finish smoother but the ducks wont care.
I did find that the shape of the original sanford box plan was very hard to bend without laminating the solid wood used for nailing. The curves are a lot for the 3\4 sq. to take. I hope to build my second box this summer using a quick jig for support to make it easier.
I will post pictures when I get to it.
 
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