For something different, as a gift for someone i am going to shape a solid balsa mini simmons.
I have found a local supplier for the wood and he has suggested that in a solid balsa build (not chambered) i don't need to laminated the wood, but can just seal it with either spar varnish, or an epoxy or poly hotcoat. This doesn't seem like it would hold up to well to me.
I don't know too much about balsa boards - what is the norm with finishing them? do you laminate or not?
Does the sealing/glasiing/finishing process differ between a chambered balsa board and a solid balsa board?
Why not chambered? Even though balsa is "light", it'll still probably weigh a lot more solid than it would hollowed out. Didn't Swied's solid balsa longboard come in at around 40 lbs.?
What size is this board gonna be?
Hope you can post pics and let us follow along with the project, sounds like its gonna be a pretty interesting one to watch.
Also, how much will the balsa cost? Isn't it kinda spendy?
It’ll be a mini Simmons probly around 5’3 ish. Material cost is around 300 for the wood including 3 stringers. I could probably bring the cost down a little by using less stringers and laying the wood differently.
Still tossing up whether to go ahead in balsa or do it regular.