where to buy balsa wood

Marleysky wrote:Some one mentioned shopping at "Craft and Sewing" stores, for similar items that we use in our hobby. My wife frequents a factory "Outlet" store for "Notions Marketing"  They have a weekly e-mail telling whats on "special" for the week and a Special Word you can us to get 50% off one Item when you check out.  She bought these for me cause she knows like balsa.
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15 sheets - 3/32 x 4 x 36  $7.50 less 50% = $3.25
20 sheets - 1/8 x 3 x 36   $1.00  less 50% =  $0.50 ( I think it should have been $1.00/sheet, but the whole bundle was marked as one)

"THAT" my good friend.. is a SCORE!!! Tower Hobbies has balsawood. Years ago I bought an assortment/bundle of 3" x 36" sheets in varying thicknesses. The grain-types varied.. and overall.. it was a good assortment of nice straight quality wood.

Here's a current link to their 20-sheet assortment/bundle for $24.99 +shipping.. Scroll-down to see the sheet-sizes/quantity included.

https://www.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXJD37&P=ML

Naturally.. you're at the mercy of whoever "picked" the stock for the bundle with regard to the grain-type... but unless you're building contest models.. there's a good amount of wood there for the money.

I see balsawood (Midwest kiosks) frequently in my craft-store travels. Unlike hobby-shops; "craft-stores" are alive and well. The Midwest kiosks usually consist of balsawood, basswood and spruce. They also "may" have birch plywood stock; usually on the bottom of the rack. You may be surprised at what you can find at the craft-store.. for model-building materials.

I bought a small digital postal-scale a few years ago. Mine is a "Dymo"-brand (remember the label-makers?) I bought it at Walmart on the cheap. If you're looking for really lightweight wood.. invest in a scale. Bring it with you when you go wood-shopping.... and "hand-pick" each piece of wood. Select the grain-type.. check for warps.. and weigh the sheets. The "grams" setting on my scale has a higher resolution than the ounces. You'll be surprised at the weight-difference between the sheets.