I have a shaped eps blank waiting for some balsa skin. Where is a good place to purchase some sheets of balsa wood? I think I am going to go with 1/8" sheets unless someone has other recommendations as to why I should go thicker/thinner? I live in Berkeley (SF bay area) if anyone knows of any stores where I can go buy reasonably priced balsa wood sheets. My local hardwood store only caries balsa blocks. Has anyone tried cutting blocks to a desired thickness? The blocks don’t seem very straight to begin with so I am worried they won’t line up when cut. Also I plan to add in dark wood tail/nose blocks alternated with a light wood and three darkwood lines (like triple stringers) down the board? Anyone have any recommendations for what darkwood to use. Looking for something easy to work with that will bond well with the epoxy. Was thinking maybe redwood?
Hi Rickdog81, I assume that when you say “blocks” you mean “lumbers” or something like that. If you have access to a band-saw, you may try and cut those into sheets but it isn’t easy, even for a skilled carpenter. Anyhow, you will have to plane the sheets afterwards to get them all the same thickness. Redwood is OK for stringers and tailblocks, so is red cedar. The density of red cedar is not very far from that of balsa, making shaping easier when you use them glued together in a tailblock.
Rick, I have cut those 4" square “logs” into 1/4 - 3/16" or so pieces on the balsa boards I’ve made. Its no big deal, just screw a long straight piece of wood into your short little bandsaw fence to help guide it. One direction of the lumber will be pretty straight & the other will be curved. If its curved in both dimensions, don’t buy that one, set it aside & buy another. When you’re cutting, its easy to cut the right direction so that the edges of your cut pieces are straight & parallel. Who cares if it’s bent in the flat direction, you’re going to bend it onto your board anyway…