New Balsa Company in California

I plucked this off SCATen, the e-newsletter of SCAT Club of So. Cal. Reports on the contest grade balsa are very good, and prices quite a lot like many years ago. I will remove the ID and contact info of the provider of this news, but include the rest, as copied and pasted. I trust that this is considered ok to Rev. Leonard. The objective is to go direct, not through eBay, and there have been some posts about shortage of contest grade balsa lately. Steve

http://www.nwskyraiders.com/index.html

"Contest Balsa, anyone?
======================
Author : xxxxxxxxxx

I am in touch with a new company in California which is now selling balsa on Ebay, both 'regular' and 4-6lb 'contest grades' -the latter is selling like crazy!

The wood is also now available to direct sales at a substantially discounted price, subject to a minimum order in the $20-$25 range, plus S&H at cost; ... Fedex is bringing my order at this moment.

Prices for the contest stock are as follows - 'regular' is cheaper, of course - and for full details of the service offered (and the whole range of products) contact [email protected] . I have no
connection with this business other than an acquaintanceship with the
owner, who has granted me permission to pass prices/details on to other modellers. Mention SCATNews if contacting Katmar as a reference...."

1/16 x 3 x 36_________.52
1/8 x 3 x 36_________.75
3/32 x 3 x 36_________.62
1/16 x 4 x 36_________.80
1/8 x 4 x 36________1.12
3/16 x 4 x 36________1.29

I have purchsed their contest grade balsa direct. It is superb. Talk to Kay Dunn. she takes care of her customers.

Sent them an email requesting availability ---got no response yet--a couple of days.

I just received about $XXX worth of balsa from three companies. 75% of this was to be "contest" grade balsa. The rest was "light to medium" grade. Depending on company and size of wood, I am ok with it, but not overly impressed. I did get 2 sheets of 1/4 that came out at 3.66 and 3.87 lbs, but probably 75% of the "contest" grade was high 5 to mid 6 lb. I know it is 4-6 lb. so like I said I am ok with it.
What weight is the contest grade from the "new" supplier?
I use a digital gram scale and Bill Calkins weight calculator.
Bill <><

>I just received about $XXX worth of balsa from three
>companies. 75% of this was to be "contest" grade balsa.
>The rest was "light to medium" grade. Depending on company
>and size of wood, I am ok with it, but not overly impressed.
> I did get 2 sheets of 1/4 that came out at 3.66 and 3.87
>lbs, but probably 75% of the "contest" grade was high 5 to
>mid 6 lb. I know it is 4-6 lb. so like I said I am ok with
>it.

Bill, just for reference sake, it is difficult to get the 4 pound density wood, so any that you get in that range consider to be a bonus. Most 4-6 pound wood will fall into the uppper end of that range, and, yes, it is possible to even get some that is heavier. This is not the fault of the supplier. They do not weigh every sheet of wood, but the log before they begin cutting. Some (most) logs have a denser side to them, so it is possible to get some wood close to 7 pounds and some at 5 pounds off of a 6 pound density log.

When you buy wood, buy two to three times what you need, and then weigh and grade every piece before putting it in the stack. Then you can get matched pieces for sides, flaps, whatever, and use the various grades where it is most effective. Bill Hopkins (of Custom Models) used to purposely use harder balsa for flaps because he didn't want them twisting.

Just use it to advantage, and if you get too much that is overweight, just sell it to some RC type who doesn't know (or care) what the difference is.

Hi Leonard,
I guess that was the point I was trying to make. Extremely light balsa is getting much harder to find now. As close as 10 years ago, the orders I recently got would have weighed about 1 lb. density lighter overall. I would have received much more 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 lb. wood. We have always weighed our wood, first with a lab triple beam balance gram scale, now with a pretty accurate digital scale.
You know what's funny? The order from one company was from their "light to medium" stock (they were out of "contest") and it's in the 5 1/2 to 7 1/2 range mostly (a lot in the low 6 lb). Not a great deal heavier than the "contest" wood!
My lightest wood is in the 3/4" and 1" blocks, overall. That doesn't seem to compute. The 3/16ths batch was the worst overall.
Haven't counted the overall sheets, several hundred.
It is getting harder to get excellent wood, but we can't do anything about Mother Nature and how she affects the growth of balsa trees.
Bill <><