Thread: Balsa wood, pine wood...

Gentlemen,

Bart hooked me up with some CrOx. Groovy!

I have a spare strop, a smaller one that I could use... but for some reason CrOx on wood speaks to me. Am I instinctively getting concerned about convexing? Dunno!

In any case, the question is: can I use CrOx on pine wood instead of balsa?

Of course thoroughly flatening and sanding...

MTIA

D.

If it is good quality pine, than you could, but I don't see the point why would you do that. Balsa is a better medium in my opinion, and tested by many. You don't get convexing with it, is cheap, and very easy to work with. I would go with the balsa any day!

This is Belgium - not always that straight forward to find things here.

I had a dickens of a time finding chromium oxide. Finally Bart bailed me out.

Originally Posted by Dorian

This is Belgium - not always that straight forward to find things here.

I had a dickens of a time finding chromium oxide. Finally Bart bailed me out.

Balsa wood is awailable at any hobby modelling shop. Thats not country dependable It is mostly used for airplane models.

I think you are worrying too much about convexing your blade edge.

I have tried basswood, which is usually side by side in hobby stores with the balsa wood. It has much the same characteristics as pine to appearances. I prefer balsa wood very much!

The open pores of balsa - holding abrasive, but releasing it in a controlled release sort of way during stropping, the softness of the wood - soft enough to contact your entire blade edge rather than slightly more in some areas than others, but not so soft as to overly convex your blade edge... everything seems about right for me.

You may have a problem with pine as it has hard and soft areas in the growth rings and the hard parts of that grain pattern will tend to stand proud of the soft parts - more so with wear. Balsa and basswod don't have this problem and should work better for you than any wood with a pronounced grain pattern. And my opinion is that softer wood is better for a pasted paddle than is a harder wood. Save the harder woods for the core of the paddle and glue a thin, soft veneer or face onto it.

Originally Posted by Bruce

You may have a problem with pine as it has hard and soft areas in the growth rings and the hard parts of that grain pattern will tend to stand proud of the soft parts - more so with wear. Balsa and basswod don't have this problem and should work better for you than any wood with a pronounced grain pattern. And my opinion is that softer wood is better for a pasted paddle than is a harder wood. Save the harder woods for the core of the paddle and glue a thin, soft veneer or face onto it.

This is the way to go and exactly why you should!

The knowledge in this forum is simply amazing. In any case, what I read is that I'm too concerned about convexing and that most prefer a leather strop. I appreciate the knowledge you guys gave me, but I think I am going to run with the strop.

D