BillFitzmaurice.info

Plus a router and jig cuts driver holes with precision.

The mids are low.

I've got to think that your 5.5" isn't all that powerful. My 5.5" 18v Porter Cable that I got 25 years ago was pretty anemic. My 20v DeWalt 7.25" is pretty rubust.

I'll put it this way. I have two corded circular saws. I haven't used either for at least 12 years. They just collect dust, along with all my other corded hand tools.

I built every prototype with a circular saw, just to be sure it could be done. Do not buy a corded circular saw, you can't use that in the lumberyard parking lot. This one looks good: https://www.greenworkstools.com/products/24v-circular-saw-7-1-4-saw-blade-dust-connector-kit-w-4-0ah-usb-battery-cha...

Probably OK, it has one good face and one not as good. There's no reason to have two good faces.

I go with no more than 6 or so inches of unbraced panel width. It may not be absolutely necessary, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Cabinet grade can mean one of two things. The first is that it's intended for making cabinets, specifically kitchen cabinets. That requires a lot of thin plies for stability, and a species that will take a natural finish without the need for a veneer. BB is the most commonly used. The other is that ...

'Cabinet grade' at the big boxes around me have a thin veneer.

True Baltic Birch has no veneer. All of the plies are the same thickness, the same species. Veneer is what's used over a low grade wood to provide an outer layer that will take a natural finish. BB has no need for that as it takes a natural finish.

It's not the species that matters so much as the number of plies, at least five, with no thin veneer. That leaves out most so-called furniture grade, which have a thin veneer. BB, BTW, isn't lightweight.

Spritz it too, cold air is dry air.