Balsa wood.

I like to use National. I have had good experiences. I also weighed what I requested and it was exactly what was sent. http://www.nationalbalsa.com/

Rusty mentioned "Michaels".. a craft store. Midwest kiosks can often be found in these craft chain-stores. It's always nice to be able to hand-pick your stock if possible. Granted you won't find contest-grade wood at a craft store.. but you can pick through the various grain-types for what you think you can use. A balsa-stripper is a great tool. Better to buy or make one.. than to waste your money on pre-cut sticks.

I second roddie's idea of a balsa stripper. I was skeptical at first, but after needing 1/8" square sticks I decided to do it. I bought a 3" wide piece of balsa and the stripper one day, as it would have cost me more for the sticks alone over buying the sheet and stripper.

yep, a balsa stripper works great, its a must have in the workshop. Craft stores are as good as any for balsa, sometimes you might find a really light piece.

roddie wrote:Rusty mentioned "Michaels".. a craft store. Midwest kiosks can often be found in these craft chain-stores. It's always nice to be able to hand-pick your stock if possible. Granted you won't find contest-grade wood at a craft store.. but you can pick through the various grain-types for what you think you can use. A balsa-stripper is a great tool. Better to buy or make one.. than to waste your money on pre-cut sticks.

Guy's what's a balsa stripper?I'm going hunting tomorrow for balsa.There's a hobby lobby and a michaels, and a hobby store in the next town.I've got some building ideas in my head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTCkjOMYZ14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqYFxuVMhZI

In my experience ordering $100+ of balsa online will get you 2-3 times as much good wood as the local craft stores will. I have ordered from Sig, and BalsaUSA in the last couple years. ($100 of wood keeps me busy for a year or 3)

However if you are not ordering that kind of volume then getting locally is about the same price after shipping and such.

Menards, a local big box home improvement store, stocks a limited selection Midwest balsa at lower prices for better wood than the local craft stores... but sometimes it is fancy wrapped baseball bats...

Phil

Balsa stripper: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXAA63

A good balsa selection here in Hawaii can be hard to find.  Searching for balsa at a good price on e-bay can be hit and miss.  Then I found Omnimodels located in Champaign Illinois. This is an example of some wood purchased:NEW Tower Hobbies Balsa 1/16 x 3 x 36 Sheet (16) TOWR1310 NIB( 291269393852 )ITEM PRICE:US $25.98  Shipping is free on orders over $69.95  Check them out on e-bay

coxaddict wrote:...Then I found Omnimodels located in Champaign Illinois. This is an example of some wood purchased:NEW Tower Hobbies Balsa 1/16 x 3 x 36 Sheet (16) TOWR1310 NIB( 291269393852 )ITEM PRICE:US $25.98  Shipping is free on orders over $69.95  Check them out on e-bay

If you use Omnimodels' eBay store, it's easier to search, and shipping is only $1.99 on many more items than their off-eBay site,

http://stores.ebay.com/OmniModels?_rdc=1

Rusty

Don't forget to go to RC club swap meets and look for super cheap old balsa kits.... I got a TopFlite Douglas DC-3 82" wing span kit for $25

It had a LOT of good wood in it, including a bunch of large ply pieces all usable to cut down for bell crank platforms, booms, and firewalls etc

It would cost at least $100 for all the wood in that one kit....there is about 35  4" x 48" balsa sheets for wing and fuselage skins--- most 1/16 thick, some 1/32", and a few thicker up to 1/4" most the correct grain for forming ( I think A grain)

Jason_WI wrote:Balsa stripper: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXAA63

Thanks for that Jason.

thanks all for the balsa rec's.Thought i would get out today and check the stores for some wood, but the old gout was kicking my butt last night.

SIG is my go to supplier. As another poster stated I buy a bunch at a time to save money.

I hit the hobby store and found what i needed.Pretty good quality.

Don't forget that each of these stores have online perpetual coupons for 40% off any single item.

Hobby Lobby is more expensive than Michaels, Michaels has the Midwest kiosk.
AC Moore - an east coast chain, is the a messy disaster area in my local store, but the cheapest.

HobbyLobby is down the plaza a few stores from where I do my regular grocery shopping. I make frequen stops just to buy a sheet at at time(!)
I have a dremel table saw to cut strips of what I need, and also a balsa stripper.

I cue up the coupons on my smartphone before I get out of my car, than just show the coupon at the register on checkout.
The clerk will just copy down the code - the codes change weekly.

H.L. has Ok stuff.
When I buy from Sig some of it comes in too light - I believe you can specify hardness/weight, but I haven't tried it.
Nice balsa, but really soft in my last buy.

Yes you can get the difft. grades from them , I got one of these and was impressed with what came in it for the $$ http://www.sigmfg.com/cgi-bin/dpsmart.exe/IndexBuidlingMaterialsEquipmentF.html?E+Sig  the HL balsa is yet to bee desired I think compared to sig or Midwest , the Midwest co. was rather hi in price with the s&h . Eric

oldguy wrote:I hit the hobby store and found what i needed.Pretty good quality.

Congrats! What model was the 21" combat job in the vid link?

I have an old 80 ounce postal type digital scale with grams and oz selction and use a balsa weight density chart to sort through the wood at the hobby shop, craft store, art store. It's a good way to find light wood with certainty.
Chris...

lol, i never owned one (and i bet some have also seen these before) but always thought this would be the way to go...

http://www.edarts.net/access/scale.shtml

Cool, in an olde timey, watch and chain kinda way! But where is the digital bling, Mark?

Mark Boesen wrote:lol, i never owned one (and i bet some have also seen these before) but always thought this would be the way to go...

http://www.edarts.net/access/scale.shtml

I've been using one of these for the past 25 years. Great for small pieces back when digital scales weren't affordable. But now I use my electronic scale most of the time.

Mark

lol, here's what i use, found it on eBay, works great!

There's an old story from N.E.S.T (New England Stunt Team) about one of the fella's finding some old U.S. Army surplus life rafts for sale at a Grossman's bargain outlet store. These rafts used balsa-wood for floatation and he got very excited. He told another flying buddy.. and the two of them went back to the store with a bathroom scale.. I can believe it.

EDIT.. Those rafts must have been like this Navy one from 1942



read about the raft

roddie wrote:

oldguy wrote:I hit the hobby store and found what i needed.Pretty good quality.

Congrats! What model was the 21" combat job in the vid link?

Roddie it is a scratch built job from years ago, when yo ask I had to go to the garage and get it off the wall.I think I will clean it up and recover it.
http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL653/3434383/21561802/412226047.jpg
http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL653/3434383/21561802/412226046.jpg
http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL653/3434383/21561802/412226045.jpg