Choosing the Right Balsa Wood Sticks

If you’ve ever used balsa wood for construction, you know that the quality of the balsa wood sticks vary greatly. I happen to have used balsa wood many times over the past five years for various activities. I’ve built towers, cantilevers, bridges, and various other structures. I can tell you the ones that held the most weight or performed the best were the ones I used quality balsa wood. Here are a couple tricks you can use when sifting through balsa wood at a store or when you receive your shipment of balsa wood. The easiest way you can check the caliber of the balsa wood stick is by squeezing it. If it’s soft, it’s no good. If it’s hard, then keep it. Another trick is by looking at the grain color. Generally, the hardest and densest balsa sticks are darker in color and have dark grains running through them. Finally, check the weight of the stick. The heavier the stick, obviously the denser and stronger the wood.

Types of Glue to be Used with Balsa Wood

Unlike other types of wood, balsa wood is unique in that you can use a variety of glues to make your models. Some work better than others however. Wood glue should never be used with balsa wood, as it’s thick and heavy and will essentially overwhelm your balsa wood structure. Regular Elmer’s glue or other school glue is also fairly ineffective and inefficient. It takes a long time to dry, isn’t very strong, and will likely also overwhelm your delicate balsa wood model. It is recommended that you use some type of super glue. CA super glue (Cyanoacrylate Adhesives) is the best glue you can use with balsa wood. Zap-a-Gap is one of the major brands that I recommend to use with your balsa wood model.

Balsa Wood Interesting Facts

Balsa wood comes from mostly humid environments in Central and South America. Rainforests are the natural place where balsa wood trees grow, and most the highest grade balsa wood used in construction of models is found in the west coast of South America. In order for Balsa wood to grow effectively, they very warm and humid conditions, plenty of rain, and also a good drainage system. This means that balsa wood trees cannot be soaked in water for very long. Because of this you will find most balsa wood trees on slopes near rivers. As water from rains flow down the slope, the balsa wood will pick up its need rain for the day quickly and not over abundantly. Balsa wood trees also grow very fast. Within the first six months, they can grow up to ten to twelve feet and nearly 2 niches wide—not quite as fast as bamboo, but many times faster than normal trees. At the peak of a balsa wood trees harvesting usefulness, they can reach 60-90 feet tall, and have a diameter of nearly four feet! After the peak harvesting stage, the tree begins to harden on the outside and begins to rot on the inside, leaving it useless for model builders like you and me.

Working with Balsa Wood

What makes balsa wood the material of choice when constructing models is that it’s incredibly easy to work with. Its soft quality makes it easy to cut. No jig saw or table saw need to cut through this wood. All you need is a razor or small knife. Because balsa wood often comes in small sticks, it’s very easy to cut at angles and construct a complicated design. Balsa wood can also be bent (especially if you soak it in water), therefore making it an excellent material to produce arches and half circles often associated with bridge building. The best part about balsa wood is that it is so light and weak in individual sticks, but when put together to form a composition masterpiece, is still incredibly light but very strong. It’s the ultimate wood for all kinds of models!

Sanding Balsa Wood

When constructing your balsa wood model, it is of paramount importance to have a sounding block or sheet available to sand your projects. You should use the finest grade of sand paper you can find for detailed touching, and a slightly rougher grade for heavier sanding. For most model airplanes and towers, bridges, and other structures, most people will use 80 grit or finer sand paper. If you’re not sure how fine 80 grit is or how fine your sand paper should be, it should be just rough enough so that you can barely feel the individual grains on your finger as you rub across it. Sanding balsa wood can be tricky if you don’t have an even or flat surface to sand on. When possible, use a sanding block to sand your projects and individual balsa wood sticks so that you obtain maximum precision.

Balsa Wood Uses

Balsa wood is a very popular construction material for two main reasons: it combines extreme lightness with strength and easy manipulation. It is very easy to work with and when properly used in construction, provides strength many times itself. Balsa wood has become the number one material used in all sorts of models and construction, especially model airplanes where weight is a major factor in how successfully the plane flies! Why is balsa wood used in just about every model airplane? As a general rule, the lighter and stronger a model airplane is, the faster and better it will fly. Other uses for Balsa wood include tower and bridge building construction. Balsa wood is very widely used in elementary and high school activities such as Science Olympiad and Odyssey of the Mind. These programs allow students to construct balsa wood towers, bridges, and other structures for contests. And of course, balsa wood is the ultimate wood to experiement with and construct just about anything your mind can think of.