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Matching Chinese Birch

12/28/16       
Tim G

I'm doing as a favor for a client. She has two upper cabinets separated by 100''. The right cabinet has doors, left cabinet open shelves. She wanted doors added to the left, and two 4''x 7'' shelves spanning between cabs. The cabinets I was told were built from chinese birch ply, clear coated,which I refuse to use because of issues I've had in the past with any chinese ply. So I built them out of maple thinking they would match up pretty well. Plus I had no choice but to build the center shelves out of solid stock since it's over 8', and I've never seen American birch that looks like this at all.
The chinese stuff is lighter in color next to the maple samples, the maple has a tad more reddish hue to it. I've tried using some diluted amber dye with and without a lite whitewash. The combo is better, but I'm still not there yet. Anyone have any suggestions, or have done this before.I'm probably overthinking this due to my perfectionist mindset. These cabinets are awful frankly, I can't believe what some people get away with, but I gotta do my best to do my end well.

12/28/16       #2: Matching Chinese Birch ...
shenendoah

ever hear of baltic (russian) birch? The chinese is a knock off fabricated in yuge ships off our west coast and brought in to dealers when sheets are completed. Interesting note: they dump their pulp and residual waste directly into the Pacific.

12/29/16       #3: Matching Chinese Birch ...
chris

Look for Garnica white birch. It's an excellent match to the china ply. I cut mainly all Garnica but it does not come in 1/4" so our customers are using the 1/4" china for the match in 1/4

12/29/16       #4: Matching Chinese Birch ...
rich c.

Are you using hard maple? Surprised it has a red hue. Amber will not remove red. Only way to kill red hue is green or two part bleach. I'd also suggest the builder used the low grade material to meet a budget. Pretty sure the builder would use higher grade material if the customer would have paid for it. The shelves are going to be 4" thick? Hard to find good 16/4 maple with no heart wood and no cracks! That will be a ton of weight! 4"x7"x100", WOW! I'd build torsion boxes and veneer the surfaces.

12/30/16       #5: Matching Chinese Birch ...
Tim G

The hard maple is red compared to the chinese birch, not that it's noticeable outside this comparison.
The 4'' shelve is just 4/4 material mitered.


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