Wood

[MadCow2357]

I'm ordering my wood very soon, and I've come to the conclusion that I should order balsa and bass. Since boomilevers need to withstand more force, I'm gonna guess that the wood has to be stronger (and thus heavier). Any ideas on how heavy the wood should be?

[waffletree]

I'm ordering my wood very soon, and I've come to the conclusion that I should order balsa and bass. Since boomilevers need to withstand more force, I'm gonna guess that the wood has to be stronger (and thus heavier). Any ideas on how heavy the wood should be?

I'm doing medium or light balsa for the x's and medium or heavy balsa for the tension and compression chords.

[dholdgreve]

I think that is sort of the entire point of this event, isn't it?.. Figuring out just how light you can go based on your unique design? What fun would it be if everyone showed up with the same design, using the same density of wood?

[MadCow2357]

Anybody know what the tensile strength of bass parallel to the grain is (I'm looking for a numerical value, by the way)? I'm trying to decide whether or not it is worth it to use bass, even just for the tension members.

[Unome]

Anybody know what the tensile strength of bass parallel to the grain is (I'm looking for a numerical value, by the way)? I'm trying to decide whether or not it is worth it to use bass, even just for the tension members.

I don't know exact numbers, but I'm fairly certain balsa is stronger per unit mass. I believe the reason bass is often used in the Boomilever tension members is because it has less variation in strength, so with balsa it would be difficult to know whether your particular piece has a weak spot in it.

[klastyioer]

yo long time no see frand, waffletree
yeah so we are considering balsa and bass
testing with balsa rn to see how it goes
you're doing x's for what im assuming is a rectangular like shape
have you considered triangles for a triangular like shape?

[retired1]

Anybody know what the tensile strength of bass parallel to the grain is (I'm looking for a numerical value, by the way)? I'm trying to decide whether or not it is worth it to use bass, even just for the tension members.

I don't know exact numbers, but I'm fairly certain balsa is stronger per unit mass. I believe the reason bass is often used in the Boomilever tension members is because it has less variation in strength, so with balsa it would be difficult to know whether your particular piece has a weak spot in it.

Send me the size, shape and pounds/cu ft and I will try to send numbers.
An amazing fact is that 24 # balsa and bass wood are nearly identical. In tension, the bass wood will probably beat similar weight balsa as you can find it with very straight grain. In compression, the greater bulk for the same weight will normally work better.

[K-latte]

Where do you guys get your wood from? I want to try to use bass wood for tension bars (I tend to use 1/8*1/16 for that purpose) but don't know where to get it from.

[waffletree]

Where do you guys get your wood from? I want to try to use bass wood for tension bars (I tend to use 1/8*1/16 for that purpose) but don't know where to get it from.

if you want good balsa, I'd buy from specializedbalsa.com. For basswood, you might want to try shop.balsausa.com or nationalbalsa.com

[K-latte]

Awesome. I usually get my balsa from specialized, but I will check out the other two.