Thread: Basswood?

Balsa wood seems to be a pretty common hone/strop material for those that use wooden ones. In my searching for balsa wood to build my own 2 sided "bench hone" leather strop I came across a few references to Basswood. Some of which came from a thread here on SRP titled "The world's Cheapest 30K Hone"

Why is Balsa so much more popular than basswood?

From what I understand Basswood is a little harder than Balsa. Would Basswood be less effective for a pasted paddle-type strop or simply something that lends itself better to a specialize application?

My preference would be to use the harder and possibly more durable wood but not at the cost of a substantial loss of performance, stropping skills aside.

I have basswood and balsa paddle strops that I used side by side for about 6 months to a year in an unintentional comparative experiment.

The basswood has a significantly harder feel on the razor, and works ok in the smaller lengths, but the grain can make it feel kinda weird on strop-type lengths, and the increased hardness makes an x-pattern a necessity.

IMHO, the balsa has better draw and polishes better, with less passes. At first I was trying to circumvent the "rounding" you get from the increased flexibility of the balsa, but it really is negligible.

Originally Posted by joke1176

I have basswood and balsa paddle strops that I used side by side for about 6 months to a year in an unintentional comparative experiment.

The basswood has a significantly harder feel on the razor, and works ok in the smaller lengths, but the grain can make it feel kinda weird on strop-type lengths, and the increased hardness makes an x-pattern a necessity.

IMHO, the balsa has better draw and polishes better, with less passes. At first I was trying to circumvent the "rounding" you get from the increased flexibility of the balsa, but it really is negligible.

This confirms what I was thinking when handling the two side by side in the store deciding which to use. I think that "rounding" you speak of actually helps instead of hurts by making sure to get every bit of the edge, even spots that are off just a hair from contacting in normal scenarios. Not enough to round, but enough to help, if that makes sense. Kind of like leather/fabric does.