A friend asked me to bandsaw a 6" thick hunk of balsa for him (he's
making a pattern for a mold). We'll only have one piece of material to
work with, and if I destroy it, we'll be out of luck. So, I want to
make sure I get it right the first time. I've never tried to cut balsa
on the bandsaw before.
I've got a 1/2" 3 tpi timberwolf blade I use for resawing hardwood.
Will this work on something as soft as balsa? Anything special I should
know about working with balsa?
Until I see the block of material he shows up with and the shape he
wants to make, I'm not even sure if we're talking rip or crosscut.
On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 09:58:06 -0400, Roy Smith <[email protected]> wrote:
>A friend asked me to bandsaw a 6" thick hunk of balsa for him (he's
>making a pattern for a mold). We'll only have one piece of material to
>work with, and if I destroy it, we'll be out of luck. So, I want to
>make sure I get it right the first time. I've never tried to cut balsa
>on the bandsaw before.
>
>I've got a 1/2" 3 tpi timberwolf blade I use for resawing hardwood.
>Will this work on something as soft as balsa? Anything special I should
>know about working with balsa?
>
>Until I see the block of material he shows up with and the shape he
>wants to make, I'm not even sure if we're talking rip or crosscut.
Balsa is arguably the most easily cut wood with which you'll ever
likely work.
Think 'hot knife through warm butter', and you'll be close.
Be aware that balsa dust is at least as fine as MDF dust, and lighter.
Floats in the air _forever_ if you don't catch it at the source.
Cheers,
Fred McClellan
the dash plumber at mindspring dot com
"Roy Smith" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> A friend asked me to bandsaw a 6" thick hunk of balsa for him (he's
> making a pattern for a mold). We'll only have one piece of material to
> work with, and if I destroy it, we'll be out of luck. So, I want to
> make sure I get it right the first time. I've never tried to cut balsa
> on the bandsaw before.
>
> I've got a 1/2" 3 tpi timberwolf blade I use for resawing hardwood.
> Will this work on something as soft as balsa?
Yes.
Anything special I should
> know about working with balsa?
It's soft.
>
> Until I see the block of material he shows up with and the shape he
> wants to make, I'm not even sure if we're talking rip or crosscut.
NOOOOOOO!
Many teeth better bet. Balsa crushes too easily to risk low teeth/in.
"Roy Smith" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> A friend asked me to bandsaw a 6" thick hunk of balsa for him (he's
> making a pattern for a mold).
>
> I've got a 1/2" 3 tpi timberwolf blade I use for resawing hardwood.
> Will this work on something as soft as balsa? Anything special I should
> know about working with balsa?
>
> Until I see the block of material he shows up with and the shape he
> wants to make, I'm not even sure if we're talking rip or crosscut.
Hi Roy, I've cut more balsa (for model building) than hardwood, I use what
ever blade is on the bandsaw at the time, from metal cutting blades to the
1/2" 3tpi blades, they all work fine, although the finetooth metal cutting
blade cuts slower, also the balsa is easily replaced if you somehow destroy
it, (www.superiorbalsa.com is a good source.)
Larry Smith
"Roy Smith" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> A friend asked me to bandsaw a 6" thick hunk of balsa for him (he's
> making a pattern for a mold). We'll only have one piece of material to
> work with, and if I destroy it, we'll be out of luck. So, I want to
> make sure I get it right the first time. I've never tried to cut balsa
> on the bandsaw before.
>
> I've got a 1/2" 3 tpi timberwolf blade I use for resawing hardwood.
> Will this work on something as soft as balsa? Anything special I should
> know about working with balsa?
>
> Until I see the block of material he shows up with and the shape he
> wants to make, I'm not even sure if we're talking rip or crosscut.
Imagine cutting a roll of toilet paper. Is just about that light and
will fuzz up when you cut it probably. I'd cut it with ANY blade I
might happen to have on may bandsaw at the time. I have a 5" block
that was used on the space module (leftover/scrap) and it is amazingly
light.
On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 09:58:06 -0400, Roy Smith <[email protected]> wrote:
>A friend asked me to bandsaw a 6" thick hunk of balsa for him (he's
>making a pattern for a mold). We'll only have one piece of material to
>work with, and if I destroy it, we'll be out of luck. So, I want to
>make sure I get it right the first time. I've never tried to cut balsa
>on the bandsaw before.
>
>I've got a 1/2" 3 tpi timberwolf blade I use for resawing hardwood.
>Will this work on something as soft as balsa? Anything special I should
>know about working with balsa?
>
>Until I see the block of material he shows up with and the shape he
>wants to make, I'm not even sure if we're talking rip or crosscut.
Not a problem. He'll have 18 tetth in the cut. Courseness of a blade is
relative to depth of cut.
"George" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> NOOOOOOO!
>
> Many teeth better bet. Balsa crushes too easily to risk low teeth/in.
>
> "Roy Smith" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > A friend asked me to bandsaw a 6" thick hunk of balsa for him (he's
> > making a pattern for a mold).
> >
> > I've got a 1/2" 3 tpi timberwolf blade I use for resawing hardwood.
> > Will this work on something as soft as balsa? Anything special I should
> > know about working with balsa?
> >
> > Until I see the block of material he shows up with and the shape he
> > wants to make, I'm not even sure if we're talking rip or crosscut.
>
>