balsa wood pros and cons?

General Discussion
41

Basically the plant is hermaphroditic.It has stamens and pistils in the same flower,both sexual parts.

GeorgeR

42

Let’s keep this “G” rated. lol

43

Stamens and pistils of a flower are G rated it is from plant biology 1st class. My seventh grader just had info on it last year in 6th grade.

44

…hello,

Its Balso, because in Spanish there s a distinction between male and female

Arbol (tree) is male so “balso”. They re talking about the tree not the wood (la madera)

then when you have the lumbers is female because is “madera de balsa”; madera is female (is la madera not el madera; in English is only THE for both)

45

The word in spanish for balsa is balsa, as is the word for house is casa but neither one is pertaining to a gender. The word balso is a colloquial term in Costa Rica and does not exist in the spanish dictionary for I do not think anywhere except in Costa.

46

Bill your 2 balsa blanks are ready to be picked up. What about the word Balso?

bacansisimo! Now there's an Ecuadorian word.

Jorge Robinson

47

…I know its colloquial

but I tried to say that the guys say Balso cause refering to an Arbol not the wood

in Spanish you can t say “EL balsa”, so you can say “el Balso” pointing your finger to the tree…

48

Actually it would be completely correct to point your finger at the balsa tree and in spanish say"la balsa" or better yet "un arbol de balsa"

49

george . This will be the 3rd generation of balsa that has been planted here. All the fact you mentioned are dead on. Our growth rait is slower but we do have plenty of rain and good soil. The biggest problem has been the wind. Even planting in sheltered areas we end up getting a couple big wind storms every year that damage the trees.Because the trees sway in the wind all the time we end up with a lot of tension in the wood. On the other hand we are getting a light weight wood. We would never be able to compete in the world balsa market but it is nice to not have to buy my balsa and I enjoy growing the trees and milling them.

50

That is fantastic! Where I live on the east coast of Fl [Melbourne} our winds would blow down the trees before they got 1 year old. I have been importing balsa for the surf industry since the early 70's and I guess to grow some I will need to buy some property back in Ecuador ,most of my family are from Ecuador so soon I will be growing some myself!

51

…I have been buying Ecuatorian Balsa from Jimmy Z. so I don t know exactly the difference in weight with Balsa from other places

do you have specs from other regions?

thanks

52

Sorry I have not gotten back to you, but as for specs on balsa in other regions I do not have them.The only thing I do know the wood is not as good as the wood from Ecuador. Usually the wood is heavier,not as blond,inconsistent and just basically not up to par on a world wide production basis!

53

Who and where is Jimmyz

Thanks

GeorgeR

54

…hello

I ll send you a PM

55

SPAMMER POST - deleted and spammer banned by mods.  See ya dude!

56

Mr. Robinson will tell you, there are no male or female trees, only that as they become very tall and big there is a natural need for and increase in strength, hardness and weight is the result. Most light wood comes from trees less than 5-6 years old