balsa (Herb)

Herb, in a previous post about tail block woods you said “Pre=lamming woods are a good thing,and a must with woods like balsa.Herb” should I pre lam my 3/4" balsa stringer? BTW, I’m not impressed with the balsa. it gums up my blockplanes and gets “fuzzy”, has hard and soft spots and looks like they glued a 20" scab piece on to the bigger length which gives me two spots for my plane to snag. the scab is also a much lighter color than the other wood. don’t know if thats the norm for balsa or from Clark but I probably wont get it again.

Herb, in a previous post about tail block woods you said “Pre=lamming > woods are a good thing,and a must with woods like balsa.Herb”>>> should I pre lam my 3/4" balsa stringer? BTW, I’m not impressed with > the balsa. it gums up my blockplanes and gets “fuzzy”, has hard > and soft spots and looks like they glued a 20" scab piece on to the > bigger length which gives me two spots for my plane to snag. the scab is > also a much lighter color than the other wood. don’t know if thats the > norm for balsa or from Clark but I probably wont get it again. …Sounds like a poor quality/grade of balsa. Jim Phillips, Paul Jensen or a few other guys here are much better at the woods than I am.I have my skills with it, but these two guys in particular,are masters at it.Try a razor planer with a new blade, it won’t solve the problem,but it will help in keeping the cut as smooth as possible. …In the case of a stringer it’s not ness.to pre-lam,but what you can do is after you get all your lam saturated,just before you lap,pour a even line of lam resin (that’s left in your bucket) down the stringer, this makes a big difference in reducing dry spots or air.Don’t go wild with large amounts resin, this will just give you more work.Put down just enough to coat the stringer generiously.DONOT SQUEEGE!!!The resin should flow out on it’s own.If you squeege,you’ll be defeating the purpose. …If you want to pre-lam,just pour a line of “slow set” lam resin down the stringer,(before you put your glass down).Then squeege in down flat with a plastic blade.Don’t worry about getting it on the foam,just make it as flat as possible.Herb