Geoff Copping Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 Just watched Green Planet episode 1 and it showed the life cycle of a Balsa tree. very interesting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 Were there any contact details ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J D 8 Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 Funny thing about balsa is it is classified as a hard wood. After around seven years of growth the fibres start to harden. Good program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuban8 Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 As far as I understand these matters, for some reason deciduous, slow growing trees like Balsa are classified as hardwoods, whilst softwoods come from fast growing coniferous non-deciduous varieties. Confusingly, Balsa is obviously quite soft and Pine can be very hard indeed so merely relying on the mechanical property of wood to determin if it's a hardwood or softwood is incorrect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Robson Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 Some of the balsa on offer these days would be suitable for cricket bats. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul De Tourtoulon Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 If I remember well the term Hardwood and softwood was the type of grain/ cells of the wood structure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ovenden Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 According to this site the distinction between hardwood and softwood is to do with the type of seed the tree produces. softwood or hardwood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J D 8 Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 As trees go the Balsa has just about the shortest lifespan of any tree of at most forty years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 (edited) Some of the balsa in my kit collection is a lot older than that. Though if I built them it probably wouldn’t live for much longer !!! ? Edited January 12, 2022 by kevin b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i12fly Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 I've got a balsa block from mid 1940's (ex Mossie offcut inherited from my father), anybody got anything older than this? Also quite a few sheets from 1980s, 90s, thick sheets which are seldom used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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