Anyone know the weight difference between a sheet of 3/4 Birch and 3/4 MDF??

[SpeedEuphoria 10+ year member]

Basically what the title says. The only thing I found similar is this page where it compares 1/2" sheets and says ~20-40lbs difference which is a huge variance.

Also any tricks to using this for a box?

how about staining it, any recommended finishes?

Pics of Birch boxes would be nice also, post em up

Click to read more...

 

[VWBobby 10+ year member]

It depends on the manufacture of the material. Some wood is very crappy quality (MDF) that crumbles, has pieces of metal that spark off when cutting, etc. It might be heavier or lighter than another manufacture's material.

What you're looking for is BALTIC Birch..... Regular birch plywood like you find at Home Depot is not the same thing. It is a birch veneer over regular plywood. Be prepared to spend about double $$ to build it out of BB verses MDF, but the rewards in weight and SQ is worth it imho. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[oldschoolboomer 10+ year member]

average weight of 4x8 3/4 plywood is @70 lbs.

average weight of 4x8(ish) 3/4 mdf is @96 lbs.

 

[oldschoolboomer 10+ year member]

and the mdf enclosure will probably sound slightly better IMO as it has a much higher internal loss.

 

[VWBobby 10+ year member]

All things being equal, the BB is structurally stiffer than MDF. If you were to double-baffle the MDF it would be more rigid than the BB possibly. I'd rather dampen the box with batting or other material and run BB if you're worried about internal resonance. That being said, I just built a MDF box for myself and it is Extremely heavy with only a double baffle, 3/4" MDF!

 

[spltuscon 10+ year member]

I don't know the exact weight difference but it's definitely considerable. Here's a couple of pics of a plywood box I built for myself:

It's for a pair of older Orion H2 tens. I got a little carried away and did 3 coats of Minwax Gloss poly inside and outside. Looks absolutely beautiful in person though and sounds great too.

 

[MONSONwarrior Premium Member]

that's one big *** dowel..

 

[spltuscon 10+ year member]

Yeah that's a 2" one...I wasn't messing around...lol

 

[sundownz Pro Seller]

I like to use the Aruco Ply from Lowes -- as it is stronger than their "birch" (laminate) plywood. Only the actual baltic birch is stiffer and it's hard to find. The Aruco ply is VERY light.

 

[CHEMMINS 10+ year member]

A true baltic birch usually comes in a 5' x 5' sheet. And that sheet 1" thick is about $95 for me.

 

[SpeedEuphoria 10+ year member]

I like to use the Aruco Ply from Lowes -- as it is stronger than their "birch" (laminate) plywood. Only the actual baltic birch is stiffer and it's hard to find. The Aruco ply is VERY light.

Any more info on this stuff, like cost? Sold in a 4x8 sheet I presume.

Edit I called Lowes and they had know Idea what I was talking about. Its just Composite plywood right?

Sel-x composite is what they had as a radiated plywood they can special order it and get a sheet for $35 in a couple days to a week.

 

[spltuscon 10+ year member]

I believe what I used was the Aruco ply also, it's really a nice quality and better than the birch ply they sell at Lowes. The laminate is so thin that if you sand even a little bit you go right through it and ruin the nice look.

 

[VWBobby 10+ year member]

spltuscon, Awesome looking box man. You did a really nice job building it, very rigid.

I've never heard of the Aruco ply.....I'll have to try some out next time I build a box. Its hard to get BB in my area, special order only.

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

go Aruco

 

[Ineed$ 10+ year member]

I think I'm gonna go with the Arauco plywood. It's much lighter than mdf and only ten bucks more a sheet. But should I expect any issues with SQ? I thought the reason for using mdf was because of it's high density.