: I actually read about the boil test on some other boat building
: sites last night. Apparently if it's finnish birch it has
: exterior glue, and if it's russian it could be either interior
: or exterior, depending on what was originally purchased.
: Unfortunately i inherieted it with the shop, so boil test it is.

: Thanks for the info:

: John R

Here's my experience:

Two weeks ago I bought some 13 ply 17mm Russian Birch from Home Despot. No indication of the glue type (exterior or interior) so I bought a 1/4 sheet anyway. Very heavy but no voids whatsoever and finished both sides.

I put a piece through the following tests:

Boiled for one hour at a rolling boil. Tried to separate plies afterward with a knife but with no luck. Solid as it was when it went in the water. Even one sanded edge was still smooth with no raised grain whatsoever.

Then I immedialtely popped it in the freezer for a few hours.

The dishwasher was ready to go (seriously), so I threw it in with the cutlery for a full cycles (three rinses at 160 degree water temp. Still no delimination.

Threw it in the freezer overnight.

Boiled it again for 20 minutes the next morning (right out of the freezer) and then threw the boiling water and wood into a thermos and took it with me to work. At lunch time, I replaced the water with freshly boiled. At 5:30 PM, after soaking in hot water for 10 hrs, still no signs of delamination.

This concluded my tests. Only discernible changes to wood were slight greying of the colour and it swelled by about 1mm in thickness. The image below is after the tests were completed. This is the sanded side still showing some gloss.

I'm pretty sure this stuff will stand up in my Gentry-style Disko Bay.

Cheers,

Sean