[Bob in St. Louis]

I've used furniture grade 3/4 maple plywood before (on the front and rear baffles of my X-Static speakers).  It's not 100% void free, but voids are rare.  A local furniture manufacturer sold me some of their stock.  Have no idea what it looks like at the big box stores, but it's available at least.

That's a great idea, I never thought about buying from a furniture manufacturer. There's a furniture manufacturing place up by Lindbergh and Page. What's it called, Peppers? Pippers? Something like that. You know what I'm talking about gerchin?

[Jcowling]

There are lots of void free plywoods available in St. Louis at St. Charles Hardwoods and Menards.  I used two sheets of 3/4 maple plywood from St. Charles Hardwoods to build my X-Statixs.  I wish I had a CNC to cut all of the holes, but I managed with a router and a jig saw.

[Bob in St. Louis]

There are lots of void free plywoods available in St. Louis at St. Charles Hardwoods and Menards.  I used two sheets of 3/4 maple plywood from St. Charles Hardwoods to build my X-Statixs.  I wish I had a CNC to cut all of the holes, but I managed with a router and a jig saw.

Do they have the 1" he's asking about?

[kentj1948]

Peipers (not sure about the spelling) has been out of business for at least 4-5 years.  There is a cabinet making company in the building now. 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Peipers (not sure about the spelling) has been out of business for at least 4-5 years.  There is a cabinet making company in the building now.

Yes, that's it. Didn't know they're out of biz, but it sounds like an appropriate place took their place. 

[gerchin]

There are lots of void free plywoods available in St. Louis at St. Charles Hardwoods and Menards.

I didn't realize that Menards handled Baltic Birch, but sure enough: https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/panel-products/hardwood-panels/4-x-8-baltic-birch-plywood/1253101/building-materials/panel-products/hardwood-panels/4-x-8-baltic-birch-plywood/1253102/building-materials/panel-products/hardwood-panels/4-x-8-baltic-birch-plywood/1253101/p-1444441908952.htm

Thanks.

[Bob in St. Louis]

I didn't either, and that 4x8x3/4 at $70 is a great price. Thank you!
The thing I like more about 4x8 as opposed to 5x5, is the 4' wide stuff fits in my YukonXL, where the 5' wide stuff has to be strapped on the roof.

[gerchin]

The only surprise for me is that 3/4" is actually 0.689", or about 17.5mm. I expected 19mm .

[Bob in St. Louis]

Yea, I caught that. 
There are even differences in what I've bought over the years at St. Charles Hardwoods.
I've got scraps from years worth of projects that are different thicknesses. Gotta be careful if I make something out of those scraps that requires uniformity.
Shame there isn't an industry standard on things like this. 

[S Clark]

Shame there isn't an industry standard on things like this. 

Well, there kinda is a worldwide standard... except for Liberia, Myanmar, and the United States, the only three countries left in the world not using the metric system 

[gerchin]

Well, there kinda is a worldwide standard... except for Liberia, Myanmar, and the United States, the only three countries left in the world not using the metric system 

Metric system or not, the last Baltic Birch that I bought measured exactly 12mm for the 1/2" and exactly 19mm for the 3/4".

[S Clark]

Those are pretty big difference, enough to screw up a project.  Heckuva note when you need to take calipers to the lumber yard.  I wonder how common this has become?

[gerchin]

Yeah, the difference between 19mm and 17.5mm is nearly 1/16". Even worse, the 1/4" is only 0.185", less than 3/16".

[Bob in St. Louis]

It's very common. Here's a random sampling of pieces in my shop now, all purchased from the same story.
Note, that I've never bought 1/2", I've only bought 3/4 and 3/8, so that one isn't a "generous" half inch piece.
The only one that's close is .7210, the one that's hard to read. The rest are very undersize.
Sorry for the fuzzy, I was trying not to bend up the jaws on the caliper.   

[gerchin]

That's really discouraging. I just measured some scrap that I had lying around; 0.716" or a little over 18mm.

Fortunately I've designed my enclosure so that its construction is not dependent upon material thickness, but of course the rigidity of each panel is very dependent upon thickness.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Just for grins, I measured some of the cheap crappy "box store" ply I've got. One was 19.2mm, the other was 19.4.
So you only get the right thickness if you buy the garbage. 

On a side note, I posted something on Facebook back in March about the quality of the "highest quality" ply at Lowes.
I just wanted the world to see. 

[gerchin]

Anybody tried Appleply as an alternative? Expensive, but given what we've seen here, it may be worth it.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Anybody tried Appleply as an alternative? Expensive, but given what we've seen here, it may be worth it.

I'd love to, but don't have a project worthy of such a price.
I mentioned it back on 'reply #13 on page one'. I kinda hoped someone would chime in about that.
I thought a cutting board made completely of the edge cuts of applyply would be cool.
Problem is, I never could get a straight answer on whether the glue they use is food safe or not.

[gerchin]

I mentioned it back on 'reply #13 on page one'. I kinda hoped someone would chime in about that.

Yeah, I remembered that. I was hoping that mentioning it again might prompt someone to speak up.

My current project doesn't justify the cost, either, but hopefully it won't be my last. Some of the future plans are ... ambitious.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Agreed. The price is very... "eye opening" to say the least. I'm sure shipping on larger sizes would be prohibitive, and I doubt a shipping company could manage to ship something like that without damage.
My "ambitious" projects include a few of my hobbies.... Wood, metal, and epoxy.