Balsa Is A Hardwood

Unlike balsa wood basswood doesn t grow quickly.

Balsa is a hardwood.

The trees are harvested after six to 10 years of growth. This happens to be generally true but there are exceptions such as in the cases of wood from yew trees a softwood that is relatively hard and wood from balsa trees a. The hardwood softwood terminology does make some sense. Hardwood trees are angiosperms mostly decidous in the northern hemisphere but evergreens in the southern hemisphere while softwoods are conifers.

And like balsa wood it s best to glue it together. Evergreens do tend to be less dense than deciduous trees and therefore easier to cut while most hardwoods tend to be more dense and therefore sturdier. Larger boards and lumber sold through typical hardwood dealers is hard to find but generally has a better cost per board foot than other sources. High quality balsa that is balsa with a very low density can be rather expensive when purchased at hobby stores or other specialty outlets.

The terms hardwood and softwood don t relate to the weight or density of the wood but to the tree type. The green balsa wood is the one that contains five times more water by weight than the actual wood substance. You ll see why below but it really has nothing to do with the density of the wood. However basswood is a hardwood.

The balsa wood has a solid volume that only consists of 40 of the entire tree. It is also very light of the questions choices mixture would be the best fit. But as the classification of balsa wood demonstrates there is no minimum weight requirement to become a hardwood. Like balsa wood basswood is soft and lightweight.

Balsa is a hardwood because of its broad leaves and its flowers it is the softest commercially harvested hardwood. The name balsa comes from the spanish word for raft. Being a deciduous angiosperm balsa is classified as a hardwood despite the wood itself being very soft. That said basswood supposedly never splinter or crack.

This wood is far from the other hardwood that you can see in the market since it has more water in it. There are many more types of hardwood trees than there are softwood.