joesdad

...yep, sliced bread. I've been using my buddy's huge shop for the last few days since I have to wrangle 12 sheets of walnut ply for a large office built-in and that's not happening in my small shop.

So while I was resting some of my full sheets against some birch sheets he had in a corner I couldn't help but notice the finish on the birch sheets, this stuff had a lacquer coat on it that looked like glass.

I joked with him that I realized he can lay down coats of clear better than me on most any given day, but that birch was unreal. He then told me he buys it like that...

On most all of my painted built-ins, I usually always use birch for all the casework, and usually always leave the insides of the cabinets natural.

This will save me two big steps in the future. At $62 a sheet I'll save quiet a bit in labor.

It's strange because in the past I've asked a few of the local yards if they could special order me prefinished sheets of birch that isn't particle board and three places told me it doesn't exist...

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johnjf0622

That a good price considerring birch ply goes for 50 and change for unfinished. That is definitely worth the few extra bucks to save some time.

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cabinetman

If you look around, you can find pre-finished Birch or Maple ply in 1/4", 1/2", and 3/4". Finishes could be lacquer, conversion varnish, or waterbased polyurethane, depending on the supplier. You just have to be careful doing machine work and handling of pre-finished material. The sheets selected for pre-finishing are usually pretty good.

clampman

I used to pay either 2 or 4 bucks more per sheet for finished both sides. It was worth it to me because it stayed much flatter in the shop, and it was also good for shelving, and if you scratched up one side, you could usually use the other.