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Author Topic: Basswood  (Read 2647 times)

Stavros

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Basswood
« on: February 11, 2008, 11:32:07 pm »

Right then excuse my ignorance on this one but what the heck is Basswood.Having seen this sold in Hobbycraft and on various other web sites it has got me thinking,I know what marine ply,lite ply are but this has got me confused HELP


Stavros
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banjo

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Re: Basswood
« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2008, 01:51:37 am »

Basswood
Tilia americana
Other Names: Linden


The name comes from its inner bark, or bast, used by Native Americans to make rope.

Where it Grows
Principally the Northern and Lake states. Average tree height is 65 feet.

Main Uses
Carvings, turnings, furniture, pattern-making, mouldings, millwork and musical instruments. An important specialized use is Venetian blinds and shutters.

Relative Abundance
Together, aspen, basswood, cottonwood, elm, gum, hackberry, sassafras, sycamore and willow represent 12.5 percent of commercially available U.S. hardwoods.

Did You Know?
Native Americans also used basswood’s inner bark fibers to make thread and fabric.

General Description
The sapwood of basswood is usually quite large and creamy white in color, merging into the heartwood which is pale to reddish brown, sometimes with darker streaks. The wood has a fine uniform texture and indistinct grain that is straight.

Working Properties
Basswood machines well and is easy to work with hand tools making it a premier carving wood. It nails, screws, and glues fairly well and can be sanded and stained to a good smooth finish. It dries fairly rapidly with little distortion or degrade. It has fairly high shrinkage but good dimensional stability when dry.

Physical Properties
The wood is light and soft with generally low strength properties and a poor steam-bending classification.

Availability
Reasonable availability.

Thanks to GOOGLE
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andrewh

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Re: Basswood
« Reply #2 on: February 12, 2008, 08:30:04 am »

Stavros,

All that Banjo says is true, and for us this side of the pond there is a simpler answer - its Lime wood - the carving favourite of Grinling Gibbons.

Lime is actually the Old world version of the Tilia family.

Good stuff

andrew
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tigertiger

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Re: Basswood
« Reply #3 on: February 12, 2008, 08:59:15 am »

It is very light, almost as light as balsa, but much harder.

I was surprised to see a good stock in 'Hobbies'

And they have a small selection of modelling tools. Including 'Minitools' as well as hand tools
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The only stupid question is the one I didn't ask

RickF

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Re: Basswood
« Reply #4 on: February 12, 2008, 09:57:42 am »

I'm currently using bass strip to deck a 1:32 Nile sternwheel gunboat - looking good, too.

Rick
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Dave Buckingham

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Re: Basswood
« Reply #5 on: February 12, 2008, 12:49:44 pm »

Hi
I use a lot of bass wood as the grain is close for scale models.

At pressent building a 1/20 paddle wheel tug built on a wood barge and two more barges.
These will be waterline models.

Reason all wood is that paint was almost unheard of so will be weathered gray which is easy to do
Dave
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Stavros

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Re: Basswood
« Reply #6 on: February 12, 2008, 10:35:54 pm »

Right well thats told me hasn't it thanks a lot lads


Stavros
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