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I have searched the website of my local big box hardware store (in Australia) for Baltic Birch Plywood with no results. They do, however, have Marine Grade Plywood.

The product description states:

Hardwood Plywood with "AA" grade face and back and marine grade bond. Excellent veneer quality makes this product ideal for staining and painting. Marine bond will not deteriorate due to moisture exposure. Excellent strength and stiffness.

  • "AA" grade face and back

  • Marine strength bond

  • Full hardwood construction

  • Excellent strength and stiffness

Are these products the same or similar?

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  • Related: Reading a hardwood dealer's price list for plywood. Also see my warning at the bottom of this Answer.
    – Graphus
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 11:59
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    I should also add that Baltic-birch plywood is by no means the only quality plywood going. Despite how expensive it can be these days it's just the cheapest decent plywood as a rule (although unfortunately you're no longer assured it will be decent, going by the name only). The grading system is a fairly good guarantee however. Anyway lesser grades of ply can make perfectly decent choices for many purposes, particularly where only one surface needs to be on show. And if it's just for workshop furniture or jigs BB grade or even C can be perfectly acceptable.
    – Graphus
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 12:35

4 Answers 4

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No. Baltic Birch is a specific product. What you're looking at is not necessarily the same. I can see a few differences right offhand.

Baltic Birch is all birch. The product you're looking at specifies "full hardwood construction" but doesn't specify that it is birch. It could be poplar or balsa or any other type of hardwood.

Baltic Birch has a high ply-count (13 ply for 3/4"). The product you're looking at doesn't specify this so it would probably be a lower count (thicker individual plies.)

The face and back grade is just that, how the front and the back look. That has nothing to do with the construction. You can get Baltic Birch (or any other type of plywood) with various grade and species of face veneers.

Buying plywood is, unfortunately, very complicated. It's pretty hard to establish exactly what you're getting without actually working with it, or at least checking it out in person.

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If it doesn't say Baltic birch, the wood is probably not Baltic birch.

It doesn't say marine, it isn't intended for continuous exposure to water. Different adhesives, and again possibly different woods.

It sounds like the marine ply might be similar, depending on how many layers of veneer it has per inch and how void-free they are (both things that the Baltic birch plywood is usually good on). And as hardwood plywood goes, Baltic birch tends to be relatively affordable.

There are other kinds of hardwood plywood too, of course. One of those might or might not be easily findable...

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Fellow Aussie here.

Marine grade plywood is not the same as Baltic Birch.

Baltic Birch plywood is made from Baltic Birch, a species of wood not commonly found in Australia (or the southern hemisphere as far as I am aware). In Australia you will need to get it from a specialist supplier such as Plyco

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Marine plywood had no voids. Other types of plywood often have voids in the inner plys. This is why marine plywood is so expensive. I assume baltic birch has voids.

In marine plywood these voids have been filled with inlays to insure strength and reliable performance under the stresses that a boat is subject to.

It's my understanding that the glue is the same for all plywood these days. It did not used to be. Other that the absence of voids, I don't think marine plywood is any more resistant to water than other plywood.

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