question on ornaments

[rickther]

I have read that some folks on here use baltic birch (plywood?) some are using hardwood, is the hardwood plywood or solid? if solid where are folks finding it in 1/4".
 I have been looking around and most places have it in 3/4" thick, seems a shame to plane it down. (resawing is not much of an option).
Rick

[mrsn]

You can find 1/4 hardwood at some of the woodworking stores like Rockler or woodcraft. You can also find it online in a few stores, even ebay. A limited selection can be found at home depot or Lowes (usually poplar and oak)

[dgman]

Hey Rick, Baltic birch plywood is fine for cutting on the scroll saw but is very bland in color. Of course you can stain or paint it but I prefer hardwoods because they usually have nice grain and color. For ornaments I like to use Mahogany, walnut, Maple, Cherry, Alder and even Red Oak. Here in Southern California I can find Red Oak and Alder in 1/4" at The Home Depot. But I usually plane my own thin hardwood. If I don't have time or thicker woods to plane down I buy from www.ocoochhardwoods.com

[tux_linux]

you can also look for some other plywood - I often use beech plywood, which is also regular in German home stores. Beech ply is harder than birch ply, heavier and looks a bit darker. Also a bit more expensive, but sells good, so that should not be a problem.

You should also check out local professional wood workers. As we have mostly small projects and they do big projects, they often have rest pieces for a few $ tip. They can plan them down easily, as they have the professional machines for that. You might need to store that wood then for a limited time.

[daliclimbs]

Yea, I have never had any problem with 1/4 ply. As stated the hardwoods always look better. There are quite a few good suppliers online as Well. Most sell 1/4 boards in 24" lenghts.

[wha]

I use maple and birch for my ornaments. I start off with a 1x4 rough board, then flatten it and resaw using the table saw. After which I have to boards which I plane down to 3/16 or 1/8 thick.

[Dan26]

I use hardwoods. Most of the boards I buy 3/4 inch and resaw and plane them to 3/16 inch. You can get some plywood in walnut, cherry and a few other wood type but I've never used them. I know Woodcraft sells cherry, oak and birch plywood.

[ChuckD]

I cut all my ornaments 1/8 inch thick.  Some have grain showing if it helps the pattern but most are just the pattern that is the attention so I like them plain.  Then finish them with a mix of BLO and MS.  Then my Bride will select some for her to color (I have no say in that.)  Remember, all I cut are given away, or used for Ornament exchanging.  So the ones my Bride did not pick, it is easy enough for anyone who gets it to do what they want.  As far as 1/8 inch thick it is plywood and have never had one break yet and the receivers never complain. 

[Dakota Saw Dust]

Thanks dgman for the 1/4" Alder - Home Depot and the Ocoochherdwoods.com source.  Up here is South Dakota we do have Home Depot.  I'd like to try Alder -have to give them a check over.  Thanks Brian

[geneVG]

Do you have a Woodsmith store up there?  That is where I get a lot of my 1/4 inch hard wood.

gene

[rickther]

nope, no woodsmith store. we don't even have a home depo withing 100 mi.
we do have a fine wood yard with great sources of wood, but most come in 1/2 or 3/4.
 As I said resawing at this time is iffy at best.
 most of the ornaments I cut are baltic birch ply and those that have recieved them think they are great. my question in the beginning is because I want to try hardwood for different grain and color. (like zebra).
 I have cut lots of other projects out of hardwoods before, the projects required thicker wood (name signs..ect).
 I will check into the internet sources more. thanks
  rick