Balsa Wood Vs. Foam

Expense

• Balsa foam is usually more expensive than balsa wood. You can buy pieces of balsa foam in various sizes for less than $10 from craft and hobby supply retailers. Craft and hobby supply stores, as well as some home improvement retailers, sell balsa wood. The cost of balsa wood depends on whether you're buying sheets, sticks, dowels or pre-cut and sanded pieces, which are meant for specific projects such as model building. All generally cost less than $5. The major exception is balsa blocks, which can cost hundreds of dollars due to their size and weight; these blocks are often bought by commercial retailers, cut down and sold as sheets or pre-cut pieces. It is more cost effective to buy balsa wood or foam locally, instead of having it shipped; the size of the sheets tends to make shipping cost more than the price of the product itself.

Uses

• Balsa foam is good for projects where you need to bend your working materials, making it ideal for crafts such as model building. It can also hold an impression and be sanded or painted, which is why balsa foam is frequently used for art projects, mobile and figure making as well. Balsa foam is often used by people who are learning to sculpt and carve, as it provides an easy-to-work-with surface that is fairly affordable to practice on. Balsa wood can be used for many of the same applications, except it will not hold an impression and requires heavier tools; it cannot be sanded or cut nearly as easily as balsa foam. If you plan to use hot tools to cut balsa wood or foam, they will not work well, and it's not necessary for the foam because of how easy it is to cut with a knife. Balsa foam is heat resistant up to 300 degrees F, and melts beyond that temperature. If you want to brand a design into your project with a heat tool, balsa wood would be suitable.

Appearance

• Balsa wood is light in color, similar to pale straw, with a slightly darker grain. It is primarily harvested from the Ochroma pyramidale tree in the forests of Central and South America. Balsa foam is a man-made craft product that is typically a darker golden color and has no wood grain markings.

Density

• Balsa wood is naturally more dense than balsa foam, but both materials are quite porous. The wood doesn't come in different grades of density, but it does have different grain patterns: Grain A, Grain B, and Grain C. Grain A balsa wood has long, straight fibers going across its surface, while Grain C balsa's fibers are much shorter and more varied. Grain C balsa is also the stiffest. Grain B balsa's stiffness and grain appearance is a cross between Grains A and C. There are three standard densities that balsa foam is available in: 7, 12 and 20 pounds per cubic foot. If you need your project to hold up to heavy duty tools or plan to sand it a good deal, you should use the highest density balsa foam that you can find.