Thread: Planes, Trains, and Balsa Wood Hones?

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

I have a few old paddles made from what seems to be basswood. Much harder than balsa but with a fine pore structure that takes pastes well.

I'm sure Forestry Proff. will stroll by shortly and add his expertise. he has done some nice all wooden paddles, one of which I am proud to own.

Tony

It took awhile, but Tony was correct in that I can't stay out of these conversations .

As Howard said, balsa is fairly unique, but from my perspective, other than the fact that it is easily obtainable and cheap, I think there are better woods available.

After trying a large variety of woods for use as a hone, I've found that the only requirement is that it be a diffuse porus wood (as opposed to ring prous). You can tell the difference if you look at a cookie cut from the tree; in ring porous wood, the annual growth rings will have two distince layers, springwood which is composed of fairly large vessels and latewood which is finer grained and more uniform. Oak and ash are good examples of ring porous woods. Diffuse porous woods do not have large open pores. Although the wood density does change from spring to summer growth, the vessel diameter does not change. Maple, basswood, sweetgum, yellow-poplar, and balsawood are all good examples. The main reason that ring porous woods are less (un)suitable for uses as a strop is that the abrasive paste will collect in the pores making it useless, unless of course you happen to be sufficently wealthy to not care about filling the pores with inexpensive diamond paste...

The main reason I am not a huge fan of balsa is that it is so easily damaged. When gluing a balsa sheet to any substrate, most methods of clamping will deform the wood and because it is so soft, the clamping cauls have to completely cover the surface because the clamping pressure will not be uniformly applied otherwise.

I have tried both hard and soft maples, basswood, poplar, and eastern red cedar. I like the cedar because of the scent and unique color, but prefer the hard maple because of its stability and strength. I have found no difference in the quality of razors edge following honing among any of these woods (assuming they have been finished dead flat after being attached to the base).

One last point (this may sound sacreligious coming from me), I prefer leather over wood for a strop/bench hone.

Just another data point,
Ed