Applications for balsa wood
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What is Balsa?

Balsa wood is grown all around the world – including Australia – but at this stage the best balsa is harvested from Ecuador in South America, and is a high moisture content wood which is kiln dried for a week. This drying process results in a very lightweight wood but very strong for its weight. Though balsa wood is extremely light, it retains a great deal of structural strength, making it the perfect material for products in which overall weight is a critical factor. Riley has supplied quality balsa since 1996. Riley is now growing and using balsa from Northern Queensland – see the photos of the seeds, seedlings, young trees, old trees – there is even a video of the large tree that was knocked down in Cyclone Yasi on 3rd Feb 2011. Riley bought this from a land owner because it was going to rot away – so we cut it up and supplied the owner with some balsa surfboards.

What is Balsa wood used for?

Balsa wood is used for
– Surfboard building – solid, foam core and hollow
- Boat building
- Deck building
- Model building – airplanes, yachts, ships, sports cards, trucks, houses, buildings, Bridges
- Rifle handle butts
- Sewing boards
- Mould making
- Wind Turbines
- Floors for trucks and sports cars
- Carving for schools
- Model and Hobby Shops
- Rafts Insulation
- World war air fighters
- Fishing floats and lures
- Table tennis bats
- End Grain
- Swing tags
- Wedding cards
- Picture Framing
- Chewing toys for birds
- Dart Boards
- Sound insulation for music rooms
- Sanding blocks
- Dowels for fish line reels
- fins
- trophies
- Alaia Blanks
- Clocks
- Artists panels for painting
- Set building for movies, adverts, commercials for break up of furniture, walls, floors, roofs