i am thinking about purchasing balsa from a company like say lone star balsa it seems to be less expensive than my LSH. is this true for other builders out there? also what size would you recommend for sheeting wings ? also what is meant buy 4-6 lb balsa? any other comments would be helpful. thanks jim.

I order all of my balsa from dealers like Lone Star, Balsa USA. The 4-6 pound balsa is just very light wight balsa. It also cost more. I just got my order for $150.00 from Lone Star. I use 1/16 to sheet my wings. For small plane I use 1/32 balsa.

Dru.

I usually order balsa USA balsa. Has been pretty good. I have drawers that I keep it in. If you store it wrong, it will warp. Keep it in a cool dry place.

I buy several hundred dollars worth of wood at a time from Balsa USA. I've never bought from Lone Star but I've heard they're good.

They select the wood for you so you don't know what you're going to get exactly. That's one of the reasons I order so much. I get a good selection so I can always find a piece that will work.

4-6 pound wood is also called Contest Balsa. You would use it for non critical structural members to save weight. For example, wing ribs or sheeting. You could also use it for formers that don't bear any significant loads such as turtle back formers.

But don't ever use it for spars or longerons. It's not strong enough.

As far as storing it, just lay it flat. Also, if you store it someplace other than your shop, be sure to move what you use into your shop a week or so before you plan to use it so it can be climatized. For example, if you store your wood in an air-conditioned house, but your shop has no climate control, you have to give the wood time to adjust. Otherwise you're asking for warps.

I have never ordered balsa by mail.
I like to hand pic everything. Specially the small stuff, like sticks, trailing edge and leading edge to make sure it is not warped.

How straight is the balsa they send you?
What about the spruce and basswood?

I need to get what my LHS doesn't carry but doen't want to be disappointed with what I receive.

ZZ

Zoom - Like I've said, I've been totally satisfied with the wood that I've purchased from Balsa USA. I buy several hundred dollars worth at a time so I get a good selection. I don't know if they consider me to be a "preferred" customer but I doubt it. I'd think manufacturers buy a whole lot more than I do.

I cut my own sticks because then I can match them exactly (same sheet used to make all spars for example). Some goes to waste getting the saw set up but I still save money and I cut a lot more than I need if the size is one I use a lot of. Otherwise I cut what I need plus a couple extra.

If I was only buying a small quantity (enough for one .40 sport plane) I'd probably go to the local hobby shop.

I've place a couple of $100+ orders with Lone Star and have been very satisfied with their products. All the wood was as expected, their quality seems to be more consistant than the wood I've gotten from National Balsa.

I like Lone Star also. I NEVER buy balsa sticks, I cut my sticks from sheets. A $10 balsa stripper works well for this.

Hi!
I Live in India and require balsa and plywood for my Edge 540. I placed an order with National Balsa. Are they good or should I also buy from Lone Star as through your comments I feel Lone Star is better then the National.

Thanks

Sharad

I just received around 60 sheets of wood from National Balsa yesterday. 40 balsa sheets and 20 basswood, and I'm pleased with the quality. I'm definitely not an expert, but the wood is cut straight and appears to be free of defects for the most part, at first glance. I was very satisfied with the pricing and service.

TX-Deck

I've ordered many hundreds of dollars of balsa from BalsaUSA and have always received excellent wood. I also buy the 2X4 foot sheets of plywood from them ,excellent wood.

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

Lonestar!!!!!!!!

I have one experience with Lone Star - about $100 worth of wood and it was all hard - very hard and very heavy!!!!

I will continue to buy from Balsa USA.

RCPAUL