I'm sure you probably have heard that Lonestar Balsa burned to the ground just before Thanksgiving. It was a horrible tragedy from what I can see on their website.

So my questions is - where do others buy contest grade balsa? Not necessarily looking for the cheapest source - just great quality contest grade.

Thanks,
Ken McGuire

Haaaa...I was just researching that myself...How Funny!! Now I have never bought "Contest Balsa" before so I'm no expert...But from what I've read this morning...Sig seems to be pretty consistent with good stuff...There are a couple more sources that guys mentioned but it really seems everyone shopped at LoneStar...What a shame...I hope they decide to re-build!! It's got to be hard on those folks to loose all the data and everything like that though...

Anyhow...Here are some links I came up with:
Sig - Main Page:
http://www.sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmar...FV4.html?E+Sig
Sig - Balsa Page (Note: Click on the photo of your desired item to expand to details):
http://www.sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmar...alsa_20Wood_01

Here is another but have little feedback on these guys:
http://www.nationalbalsa.com/balsa.htm

It seems another name I saw allot of was Superiorbalsa...But could not find their site...Wonder if their still around??

Hope that helps a little??

Have Fun...

Chuck

doesn't balsausa and dbalsa hand pick wood for you at an additional price?

david

Try National Balsa.

I've never used them before. Only used Lonestar in the past. But next time i might try them. Prices are similiar.

http://www.heerdegen-balsaholz.de/

I used National for my last order which was about a year ago. I live close enough to have gone to them for pickup. The quality is as good as I ever got from Lonestar from whom I've ordered several times.

The owner of National is a straight up guy and runs a nice operation. Prices were about the same as Lonestar's.

I agree. I purchased 200$ worth of balsa and ply about a month and half ago. In my opinion better than Lone Star in terms of weight and thickness accuracy.

But Lone Star generally cut their stock oversized in length and width and that sometimes worked out better for some applications

MattK

i just ordered a couple of hundred dollars worth of balsa from national. i will voice my opinion when i receive my purchase.

david

Thanks for the help, guys. I ordered a bunch on Monday from National Balsa. Once it arrives, I'll report back on what I find, too.

Ken

What about this guy ? Max and below 6 pounds/ ft3, seems okay for 1/16 x4 x36 sheeting. If all sheets are like that even the price seems fair. If you order "unsorted" you will end up having three or four good sheets out of 30-40 ....

http://www.specializedbalsa.com/

Used to get 1/20" sheets from Lonestar as a substitute for 1/16" contest grade. Worked great.

Just a word to the wize here about 1/20th balsa sheets. I used some of this to sheet a foam wing for a half a pylon racer. I covered most of the plane with Ultracoat and used a 12" or so swath of Moneykoat for a racing stripe of one wing. (I liked the color and couldn't get it in Ultra.) The foam under the higher temp Top Flight stuff melted leaving a nice dished out surface in the wing. Under all the Ultracoat all was well. I'm sure some of the thickness of the 20th balsa had been sanded off, Just a heads up as to what can happen. I also had used Lone Star Balsa, got my last shipment from them the day of the fire. Wish I had ordered more.

Definitely very minor sanding on the 1/20th and set the temp. of the iron moderate.

Also plenty of CF strips for additional strength. I used all my 1/20th s on a pair of wings for a gas pattern ship. Hold very strong.

The problem is nowadays you can not get 1/20" from the two Blasa shops. 1/16" or 1/32".

i just got my order in from national balsa. the quality seems ok. anybody have any weights offhand to compare to? i can go weigh a few different pieces for comparison. there may be someone who wants to compare.

david