Damn

[kevin king]

Too bad it's in metric.  https://m.globalsources.com/si/AS/Shanghai-Haobei/6008850830038/pdtl/AAA-Balsa/1147103175.htm

[Steve Berry]

Problem though - it's chinese. I refuse to do business with China when I can avoid it.

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[Steve Dwyer]

Weight/Volume      Kilograms/Cubic Meter

[Howard Rush]

I refuse to do business with China when I can avoid it.

What do you do for stuff?

[Howard Rush]

Too bad it's in metric.

I guess you’re screwed.  Good thing Alexa takes care of me for that arithmetic—sometimes, anyhow

[Craig Beswick]

Contest Balsa is under 80kg per cubic metre.

[Steve Berry]

What do you do for stuff?

By American made whenever possible. Hard to do, and virtually impossible for some things, but can be done with some due diligence.

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[Gerald Arana]

Too bad it's in metric.  https://m.globalsources.com/si/AS/Shanghai-Haobei/6008850830038/pdtl/AAA-Balsa/1147103175.htm

That's what the trout said when he hit the wall......

  Jerry

[Bootlegger]

  I too am with Steve Barry, I too buy AMERICAN..

[Howard Rush]

Alexa says 80 kg/cubic meter is about 5 lb./cubic foot.  The light stuff must go to the Chinese stunt team.

[Dave_Trible]

Made in America.....By undocumented workers using imported parts.  The corporate way.  :-)).

Dave

[Craig Beswick]

80kg pcm is 5lb wood. 180kg pcm is 11.25lb wood.

Craig

[Doug Moisuk]

Kevin
There are app calculators that do density.
The one I have is.
CalConvert

[FLOYD CARTER]

If you "buy American" then you must have all your clothing custom-made by a local tailor.  If you shop at most large department stores, your choice of products will be very limited.  You will have to carefully examine each purchase for country of origin...and sometimes it is not specified.

I also prefer American-made.  Sometimes (often) that just isn't possible.  this country just doesn't make much anymore.

[Paul Walker]

Is that what Sig calls 4-6 Lb. balsa?


Motorman

Sig no longer sells "contest" balsa..  Their new grading sells 8 pound wood as the lightest grade. Ouch!

[Keith Renecle]

Alexa says 80 kg/cubic meter is about 5 lb./cubic foot.  The light stuff must go to the Chinese stunt team.

Hi Howard, I don't think that the light stuff went to this Chinese team! 

[kevin king]

Love the large fuselages on those Chinese planes.

[Chuck_Smith]

I'll bet that by the time you hire an importer, get import license, play the freight domestic suppliers are much better. I deal a lot with China, 10 year visa and all that, and unless there are economies of scale at play it's not a very good deal.

I'm trying to get Kaz to sell me a new CF tank but even getting that shipped is a nightmare.

Chuck

[Harleyman]

Sig no longer sells "contest" balsa.. 

That's what someone just told me around Christmas time. I called in a large order and just for giggles, I asked, "Did Sig stop carrying Contest Balsa?".  She said "No, we still do".  So I ordered a bunch of it.
It doesn't show on-line, true.  But call and ask.  They still have it.

[kevin king]

I guess you’re screwed.  Good thing Alexa takes care of me for that arithmetic—sometimes, anyhow

I don't need Alexa. My wife knows everything.

[Paul Walker]

That's what someone just told me around Christmas time. I called in a large order and just for giggles, I asked, "Did Sig stop carrying Contest Balsa?".  She said "No, we still do".  So I ordered a bunch of it.
It doesn't show on-line, true.  But call and ask.  They still have it.

Sure they do. But it us not the same as what we grew up on. I was at their store on a Nat's trip a couple of years ago. Bought most of their stock of "contest" balsa. Got home to discover that it is not 4-6 pound any more. Called them and verified the following: "Contest" now goes up to 8 pound quality...or lack thereof.  Most of the wood bought there on that stop was unusable because it was mostly 7 pound wood.

So beware. The label is the same, but the range of density has changed (for the worse for us).
.

[Dan McEntee]

Sure they do. But it us not the same as what we grew up on. I was at their store on a Nat's trip a couple of years ago. Bought most of their stock of "contest" balsa. Got home to discover that it is not 4-6 pound any more. Called them and verified the following: "Contest" now goes up to 8 pound quality...or lack thereof.  Most of the wood bought there on that stop was unusable because it was mostly 7 pound wood.

So beware. The label is the same, but the range of density has changed (for the worse for us).
.

    Well, they can't sell what they can't get, none of the suppliers can. What was the quality of the wood like, other than being on the heavy side? I've seen 4-6 pound wood before that was too punkish to use for most structures. It can have it's place in smallish free flight models but not so much in larger stunt models.
  Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

[dennis lipsett]

Alexa says 80 kg/cubic meter is about 5 lb./cubic foot.  The light stuff must go to the Chinese stunt team.

I was under the impression that the Chinese do not participate in the worlds anymore

[Paul Walker]

    Well, they can't sell what they can't get, none of the suppliers can. What was the quality of the wood like, other than being on the heavy side? I've seen 4-6 pound wood before that was too punkish to use for most structures. It can have it's place in smallish free flight models but not so much in larger stunt models.
  Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

My comments are only meant to inform others so they will not spend good hard earned cash for something different than they believe they are purchasing.

The quality of the wood was fine, except for the density. But I don't use any balsa over 6 pounds in any plane I build.

[Dan McEntee]

My comments are only meant to inform others so they will not spend good hard earned cash for something different than they believe they are purchasing.

The quality of the wood was fine, except for the density. But I don't use any balsa over 6 pounds in any plane I build.

    Oh I agree completely. I was just curious as to what the stuff looked like. I have seen balsa that came from Tower Hobbies and other sources that had all sorts of weird things in it, or was hard on one end and punkish on the other, oddball grain patterns and such. There is balsa, then there is balsa, and then there is balsa! It all doesn't look the same. Like the stringy balsa that used to come wit Guillows kits and their dime store gliders and rubber models is like nothing you ever see any where else!! In all of the SIG balsa I have purchased through the years, it has been pretty good quality regardless of density. Under the more recent management I am not so sure. I would venture to say that the balsa industry has under gone quite a bit of change in the last ten years! I have always been interested in the balsa industry, after reading several articles in the magazines years ago about how it was harvested and processed. Back then it was said that growing balsa on plantations or farms was tried to control quality and increase supply but wasn't successful. In more recent years, whenever I looked at the balsa in a Chinese made R/C ARF model, it looked very different than what you see in the balsa rack at the hobby shop. Kind of clear with little or no grain. The balsa that is in some of the free flight kits out of New Zealand looked the same as what I was seeing in the Chinses ARF kits. Then I read some where that down in that area of the world on the Equator that they were successful in plantation growing of balsa trees. With the demand that was created by these stupid windmills, and the continued to use it as insulation in oil tankers and such, it would not be a surprise that some enterprising soul would figure out how to do it profitably.
   Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee