Comments welcome.

On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 17:23:49 GMT, miey wrote:

Comments welcome.

I don't know what "this Baltic Birch" you refer to, but my admittedly
limited experience says no.

The usual tearout problem with solid stock is blowout when the
dovetail bit exits the work piece. That can be mitigated with a
backer board.

What I've seen with the plywood is tearout on the front side when the
bit enters the work and grabs and tears the face lamination.

All of this assumes, of course that you are routing the DTs.

Wes Stewart wrote:
On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 17:23:49 GMT, miey wrote:


Comments welcome.


I don't know what "this Baltic Birch" you refer to, but my admittedly
limited experience says no.

The usual tearout problem with solid stock is blowout when the
dovetail bit exits the work piece. That can be mitigated with a
backer board.

What I've seen with the plywood is tearout on the front side when the
bit enters the work and grabs and tears the face lamination.

All of this assumes, of course that you are routing the DTs.


That has been my experince too with trying to route dovetails into 1/2"
baltic birch. I ended up using a 45 degree drawer lock bit like:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,46168,46174

That provided a decent surface for gluing and seems reasonably strong.
Dovetails would look nicer, but for simple drawers where appearance
isn't a major concern, this works.

Jeff

Wes Stewart wrote:
On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 17:23:49 GMT, miey wrote:

Comments welcome.

I don't know what "this Baltic Birch" you refer to, but my admittedly
limited experience says no.

The usual tearout problem with solid stock is blowout when the
dovetail bit exits the work piece. That can be mitigated with a
backer board.

What I've seen with the plywood is tearout on the front side when the
bit enters the work and grabs and tears the face lamination.

All of this assumes, of course that you are routing the DTs.

I had some very recent experience with this material and my dovetail
jig. Even using backer boards front and back did not solve the problem.
In the end I used finger, or box, joints cut with my dado set on the
table saw. While it worked well I still had some de-lamination on
assembly. I had to adjust the joint making it less tight.

Good luck. Mike

"miey" wrote in message
news
Comments welcome.

If properly cut, Baltic Birch can be used.
You will experience some tearout if you cut the BB with a machine (router).
Scoring the cutlines and using a scrap piece as a backing will help.

Dave



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I just finished making 6 drawers using 1/2" baltic birch. I did get a small
amount of tear out but it was minor and the drawers came out nice and tight.
I was NOT trying to make a piece where the dovetails show other than when
the drawers pull out however.

"miey" wrote in message
news
Comments welcome.

I used 1/2" BB for drawers using a baccker board for DT joints and had
no problems. Slow climb cut entry then usual speed with router.

On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 17:23:49 GMT, miey wrote:

Comments welcome.

I've used it for such, but I prefer soft maple for drawer sides. At
$2-$3/board foot, it doesn't cost much and it finishes really nice.
"miey" wrote in message
news
Comments welcome.

I forgot to include the following piece of advice that I received from this
newsgroup before I built my drawers.

Before running the router from left to right to make the cuts, first run it
lightly from right to left. This helped eliminate a lot of the tear out.

"miey" wrote in message
news
Comments welcome.

"Dick Snyder" wrote in message
...
I forgot to include the following piece of advice that I received from this
newsgroup before I built my drawers.

Before running the router from left to right to make the cuts, first run
it lightly from right to left. This helped eliminate a lot of the tear
out.

"miey" wrote in message
news
Comments welcome.



I would never cut plywood with one of my LN Independence back saws.
:-)

miey wrote:
Comments welcome.


If you are speaking of "Classic Birch" as sold by Home Depot
the answer would be no/not really/Your Mileage May Vary.

For shop cabinets though it's way nice.

UA100

"Lowell Holmes" wrote:


"Dick Snyder" wrote in message
...
I forgot to include the following piece of advice that I received from this
newsgroup before I built my drawers.

Before running the router from left to right to make the cuts, first run
it lightly from right to left. This helped eliminate a lot of the tear
out.

"miey" wrote in message
news
Comments welcome.



I would never cut plywood with one of my LN Independence back saws.
:-)

I had similar thoughts. But I have had pretty good success with
dovetails in BB using an inexpensive Japanese DT saw. Chiseling the
waste is "interesting" with the grain changes between layers.

Interesting effect for drawers in shop furniture, but not something
I'd put in the living room and certainly not something SWMBO would
allow outside the shop.

--
Alex -- Replace "nospam" with "mail" to reply by email. Checked infrequently.

I would never cut plywood with one of my LN Independence back saws.
:-)

Just as well as it would be rather tricky attach to it to the router.

"Mike" wrote in message
oups.com...


In the end I used finger, or box, joints cut with my dado set on the
table saw. While it worked well I still had some de-lamination on
assembly. I had to adjust the joint making it less tight.


With applied front, this is the way to go, IMO. Use of a nice spiral bit
and a router jig will give clean cuts.

You have compared prices of this stuff with other good secondary solid woods
in your area? I can get basswood for a song, so that's my preference.

"
I had similar thoughts. But I have had pretty good success with
dovetails in BB using an inexpensive Japanese DT saw. Chiseling the
waste is "interesting" with the grain changes between layers.

Interesting effect for drawers in shop furniture, but not something
I'd put in the living room and certainly not something SWMBO would
allow outside the shop.

--
Alex -- Replace "nospam" with "mail" to reply by email. Checked
infrequently.

Well, now you've got me to thinking a bit more about it. I could use an old
Stanley dovetails saw I have and use a coping saw to waste out the rails and
pins. A sharp chisel would do a credible job of dressing up the bb. It
wouldn't be a "Williamsburg" quality joint, but a nice challenge.

So much of the Baltic Birch I've seen lately has lamination problems, I sure
wouldn't spend much money trying to do it. I think planing some white wood
from the borg will make better drawer sides. As far as that goes, some of
the fingerjoint drawer side material from McCoy's or Sutherlands makes
pretty nice looking dovetails and it's already 3/8" thick.

On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 11:51:17 -0600, Jeff Cooper
wrote:

Wes Stewart wrote:
On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 17:23:49 GMT, miey wrote:


Comments welcome.


I don't know what "this Baltic Birch" you refer to, but my admittedly
limited experience says no.

The usual tearout problem with solid stock is blowout when the
dovetail bit exits the work piece. That can be mitigated with a
backer board.

What I've seen with the plywood is tearout on the front side when the
bit enters the work and grabs and tears the face lamination.

All of this assumes, of course that you are routing the DTs.


That has been my experince too with trying to route dovetails into 1/2"
baltic birch. I ended up using a 45 degree drawer lock bit like:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,46168,46174

That provided a decent surface for gluing and seems reasonably strong.
Dovetails would look nicer, but for simple drawers where appearance
isn't a major concern, this works.

I wanted appearance, so I gave up and did the right thing and used
poplar. [g]

Wes