Balsa Is Hardwood

Yet despite its softness balsa is technically classified as a hardwood rather than a softwood since it has broad leaves and is not a conifer.

Balsa is hardwood.

However basswood is a hardwood. The terms hardwood and softwood don t relate to the weight or density of the wood but to the tree type. White to oatmeal in colour with high silky lustre. Broad leafed flowering trees are hardwoods.

This wood is far from the other hardwood that you can see in the market since it has more water in it. The balsa wood has a solid volume that only consists of 40 of the entire tree. Being a deciduous angiosperm balsa is classified as a hardwood despite the wood itself being very soft. Density 160 120 220 kgm3 commercially preferred density range 120 160kgm3.

It is the softest commercial hardwood. Balsa wood is the lightest and softest commercial hardwood timber. The green balsa wood is the one that contains five times more water by weight than the actual wood substance. Hardwood trees are angiosperms mostly decidous in the northern hemisphere but evergreens in the southern hemisphere while softwoods are conifers.

That said basswood supposedly never splinter or crack. You ll see why below but it really has nothing to do with the density of the wood. The name balsa comes from the spanish word for raft. In fact balsa is the spanish word for raft.

Strength and stiffness approximately 50 that of baltic pine pinus sylvestris. Balsa has excellent sound heat and vibration insulating properties and is also incredibly buoyant. There are many more types of hardwood trees than there are softwood.