Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Balsa Salsa



I love the look of the tiger striped graining, but these areas can be tricky, the density is much heavier than the other areas of normal grains of balsa. These areas require extra attention.
I started this balsa project on Friday 10/8 and just finished shaping. This is for another shaper and he supplied the blank. It has taken twice as long as normal. This blank was one of the most challenging balsa blanks I have shaped. Not sure why the quality of the balsa has dropped off in recent years, but seems like it has been getting worse year after year. Not only the quality of the wood but the quality of the glued ups.
This blank had a 5/8" twist and the planks were not centered also, one side had a 3/4" bow. If I did the outline layout by the center of the plank in the center plank I would not have enough width on oneside to accomodate the template and outline. I had to shift the outline to one side off center of the center plank to be able to be get the desired numbers.
Also the density of each plank were extremely different and slightly on the "wet" side after cutting into the blank. This causes the blank to shrink as the new "wet" areas continue to dry out. Everyday I come into the shop I have had to reblock the areas that have either swelled or shrank over night...

4 comments:

  1. Balsa is such a delicate type of wood. Well worth the effort it seems. What king of glassing on that kind of board, Wayne?

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  2. Absolutely nothing like riding a solid balsa board. If you can afford one it's well worth the effort. ;-) Glassing will be most likely 10 oz Volan. Nice and heavy...

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  3. balsa chips n salsa... perfect

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