hclem

I've done some scratch building in the past & have the urge to get back into it.... at the time sig balsa was far & away the best, and even if more expensive, was worth the price. But after doing a few price comparisons I'm really surprised how much more expensive sig is, compared to balsa usa, for instance. I'm building a sailplane, so weight is important. Any one with a good source of quality wood at decent price?

BMatthews

Heard lots of good talk about Lone Star Balsa if you're looking for an alternative.

I've seen some Balsa USA stock a bunch of years back and I was not impressed. The wood itself was OK for the most part but the cutting and finish sanding was spotty with areas that were fuzzy from the saw and some saw marks still in the wood where it was sanded. Hopefully things are better now but I think that they rough cut their wood a lot closer to the mark and that is one reason they were able to keep the prices down.

RCPAUL

My Feedback: (1)

The wood from Balsa USA is as good or better than Lone Star in my opinion - I've bought from both recently. However, I find unless you specify contest wood (which is very expensive!), most of the wood today is heavier than it used to be - in the 12 to 18 lb. range. This can be used, expecially if you know where size substitutions can be made.

Paul

Campy

My Feedback: (1)

I do a fair amount of scratch building.
I have had excellent luck with Lone Star Balsa. The quality is consistant throughout the order and the price is a LOT LESS than Sig and some other balsa suppliers. Their service is great also.

WILDCRASHWILLY

I've had good luck with Lonestar. I tried Balsa USA last year and was dissappointed in their product. The wood quality was OK but every piece was cut 1/4 to 1/2 inch short of what I ordered. I ordered stuff from Lonestar to take care of my project and I use the Balsa stuff where I will make cuts and other scrap areas utilizing wood that does not have to be 36 or 48 inches long or where I don't mind splicing. In Balsa's defense I did not call or complain, I just don't order there anymore because it is easier to get what I want without any hassle.

hclem

Gents - thanks for your replies. I had forgotten about Lone Star - their selection is impressive and the prices are good. I will plan on some contest grade in a few places, and order a bit extra of the other to allow for marginal wood.
hclem

iaclmac

you might want to give national balsa a try.
http://nationalbalsa.com/
or try for speciality wood and shapes
http://www.specializedbalsa.com/

Time Pilot

I'm still ticked off at Lonestar for leaving out 2 critical sticks from my order, and by the time I found out, they quoted their policy and thought they'd be generous crediting me the 50 cents. Whoopie! Like I am going to order another minimum order for that.

(I live in Canada and have packages dropped off at my Bro-in-laws in the states, so by the time I actually got down there to get the package and then check it, it was 'too late.')

I thought it would have been a nice gesture to send me the two sticks. But no. Policy, you know!

Hircflyer

I recently bought some wood from Lone Star, actually quite a bit, and the balsa sheets were very soft and on some sheets the thickness started at 1/8 inch and at the end of the 48 inch sheet it was down less than a 1/16 at the end. In addition, I had ordered 1/2 x 1x 48 stock for use as a leading edge of the wing when it arrived it was bowed. All 8 pieces. It was over 1 inch from being staight.

I could not use the sheets to sheet my wings. I made cap strips out of most of my sheets
I had to reorder from another vendor to complete my airplane.

Very disapointed after I had heard such high praise about their quality.

My next project will use Sig wood, may pay a little more but at least you can use it. .

c-grain

I too have had exactly the same experience with Loan Star.1/4x1/4 at one end and 1/4x1/8 on the other,bowed,even twisted a little.Sheets that snapped ACROSS the grain.Was by far the worst quality of balsa i've ever seen in over 40yrs.of building!They seem to have no quality control,which explains the opposing posts above.On the other hand,I have bought mostly from BUSA for the last 30 yrs. or so,and can honestly say that they have as good as any I've ever tried.About 1992 I was starting a kit business and ordered over $300 worth of balsa from Sig,BUSA,Superior,and National I think,and compared the price to quality from a business stand point and ended up choosing BUSA as the one to go with.In those days the absolute highest grade balsa seemed to be comming from Midwest(remember those red white and blue stickers we used to have to take off their sheets---used to really anoy me!)Well, Midwest was too expensive and so was Sig.Also Sig refused to give me a break on quantity priceing because I was a start-up working out of my home and they said I needed a busness address with a store front and a business licence to boot[:@]Now days,it seems the aerospace business is buying-up most of the 4-6lb. contest grade wood,at least BUSA told me that when I tried to order it about a yr. ago,and my last order from them ended up being about 10-12 lb.density on average,and the quality wes markedly down from the previous order.In my search for a suitable substitute for our beloved BALSA, I stumbled across a wood I'd never heard of--Palowena!!!It's actually about 15%stronger than balsa LB.For LB!As for IMHO, on where to buy good quality and accurately cut wood in this day and age,I believe it's the" luck of the draw"I'm not interested in the cheapest,but rather the best and lightest.after all you can build a floater with much heavier woods,but you have to down-size the dementions to compensate for the extra wt. and it's not always practicle and much harder and time-consuming to sand and cut etc.Balsa will grow in the US-grow yur own!

dicknadine

in regard to Lone Star Balsa..I have purchased some $500 worth in the last couple of years and the quality has been better than the other suppliers, price is comparable. last shipment had some wrong sizes, called them and they sent the missing sizes at NO CHARGE and said keep the other. thats hard to beat. if your after contest quality, be sure to specify it. dick stamm

BillS

My daughter who works for a lumber import/export company informs me the price of a sea container of balsa is only $25,000. Twenty-five of us could have more than we could ever use for $1,000 each.

Bill

c-grain

Bill,That's an excellent idea!!!!!Would you ask your daughter if the container is full of logs or is it large planks?
Also,what port of entry is that price for and what does it weigh?Sorry for all the questions,but over the years I always thought you had to have a contact in South America at the plantation to buy the logs.


Rich K.

dicknadine

this is a follow up question, what is the port of entry and what are the trucking costs to your plant? what kind f machinery do you have to process the logs. how big is your wharehouse ?????? ect, ect and ect. so afar Lone Star has answered all my questions. sure a bad piece or goof up in the order once in awhile, made it good. don't wait acouple of weeks and then start complaining, do it right away. dick

turbo.gst

My Feedback: (8)

I have also been disappointed in balsa from Lone Star. I barely found enough usable wood for my wing sheeting. I know many people that really like Lone Star, so I thought maybe it was just a particular shipment. I tried again and got the same results.

turbo

50+AirYears

If anybody there knows about the MicroX firm here in Lorain, Ohio, it was(is) a specialty firm that provided the some light balsa for rubber powered indoor and outdoor scale models. The founder used to precision cut balsa so thin you could almost read through it. Since he was a fellow RC club member and from the same city I live in, I visited him at his house a few times (Basement Industry, actually in the basement of his house). He said that he was lucky when 20% of a bulk batch of balsa was useable for his needs. As the Sig pamphlet on balsa says, balsa has a tremendous variation in quality and density in the same log. These people place an order sight unseen, and have to take what is sent them.