Encyclopedia > Balsa

  Article Content

Balsa

Balsa is a hardwood[?] - meaning that the tree is deciduous, broadleafed and slow growing, even though balsa trees grow to 90 feet high in seven years or so. The timber itself is very soft and light with a coarse open grain. It is much used for model making and was famously used by Thor Heyerdahl in his raft Kon-Tiki - which has its own museum http://www.museumsnett.no/kon-tiki/.

The density of balsa wood ranges from 3 to 30 pounds per cubic foot, with a typical density of about 10 pounds (about one third the density of ordinary wood).



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Shinnecock Hills, New York

... under the age of 18, 34.0% from 18 to 24, 17.6% from 25 to 44, 20.5% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 28 years. For every ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 20.4 ms