Balsa Is Hardwood
There are many more types of hardwood trees than there are softwood.
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. This wood is far from the other hardwood that you can see in the market since it has more water in it. 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.
Strength and stiffness approximately 50 that of baltic pine pinus sylvestris. However basswood is a hardwood. White to oatmeal in colour with high silky lustre. Although the wood of a balsa tree is soft balsa is a hardwood.
The name balsa comes from the spanish word for raft. You ll see why below but it really has nothing to do with the density of the wood. The trees are harvested after six to 10 years of growth. Balsa has excellent sound heat and vibration insulating properties and is also incredibly buoyant.
Like balsa wood basswood is soft and lightweight. The balsa wood has a solid volume that only consists of 40 of the entire tree. The green balsa wood is the one that contains five times more water by weight than the actual wood substance. The terms hardwood and softwood don t relate to the weight or density of the wood but to the tree type.
That said basswood supposedly never splinter or crack. In fact balsa is the spanish word for raft. Balsa wood is the lightest and softest commercial hardwood timber.