When you order balsa from these companies do they send you what you ask for...
Example: Hard balsa, straight sticks and sheet etc. I have have seen balsa sheet from companies that are different grades and/or densities that are glued together to make a wider sheet. As a general rule I like to see what I am buying and hand pick it myself, but my LHS is not a very good supplier. He does not keep very much on hand and doesn't seem to want to order anything special for me. What he does have is very good quality. He says some of his suppliers require minimum orders so he won't do it.
That leaves me with a 3 hour trip to the next best HS or mail order.

I did place an order through Great Hobbies here in Canada and was happy with the balsa and ply I got. There was no hard balsa included. All 10 sheets were close to the same density and grade. I didn't request anything special on this order but the next one I will require 1/8" sq hard balsa sticks. I cut some 1/8" sq stick from some hard balsa I had but was not happy with the hardeness once cut into sticks. It seems what is hard enough as a sheet is not once cut to small sticks. I would really hate to have to send back stock because it is not what I need or asked for, then have to wait for the proper material to be sent.

I cut my sticks over size and sanded them down to thickness with a homemade adjustable thickness hand block sander because I don't like the results from using a balsa stripper by it's self. The cuts are very uneven and the more I cut from the sheet the worse they get because the edge of the sheet goes out of straight.
The sander I made is very easy to make. Its just a 3/4" thick by 9" long block. It has two 1/4" by 1,1/4" sides that have a slot cut across about 1,1/4" from both ends. A screw goes through them and mounts to the sides of the 9" block making it adjustable for height. Cut a piece of sand paper 1,7/16" wide and use a glues stick on the back of it and put it on the block between the sides and a tack on the ends. Adjust the height, tighten the screws and sand the sticks a little on each side flipping them 180 degrees till the sides of the sander bottom out on the table.

ZZ