"Dave" wrote in message
...
I heard that Baltic Birch plywood is made out of Silver Birch from Russia.
They say that their forests are loaded with silver Birch.



Theirs have the white bark, though not as papery - almost an alder look to
it, and they are abundant, growing on the "podzol" soils which are really
poor quality. Russians make neat baskets and boxes out of it, as well as
the traditional buckets.

The "weeping" birch is sort of neat looking. Think it's called a silver by
the folks who grow ornamentals in nurseries. Russians are fond of planting
it as an ornamental.

"Baltic" can be Finnish, Russian, Estonian, etc. First encountered the
stuff in some 5x5 metric thickness floor underlayment. Saw the Cyrillic F-A
in that cheap purple color stamp they use everywhere on it. "Fabrika," or
"factory" and a number.