WTB: Full-size plans for Dave Robelin's Square Shooter

AMA list the plan as availble for $15.

Dan

Thanks!!!

On Sat, 14 Mar 2009 11:12:48 -0700 (PDT) hershey remarked:

Also, If you started this 40 years ago and have balsa from that time. it has probably dried out and become brittle. Better off to start over with fresh balsa and other building supplies.

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That's good advice. Plus, the plane has long-since disappeared, in the many moves I've made since '69.

Taking a different approach and being obtuse...how can balsa dry out? I thought balsa was already dried out when I got it and that is what made it light.

What is in the wood to dry out?

Can I squeeze a new piece of balsa and make something ooze out?

These are serious questions. What are the answers?

Ken

"Ken Cashion" wrote

All wood has a moisture content. The moisture in the air keeps a small percentage of moisture in the grain, in the form of just plain water, and in the form of sap, or natural resins. Balsa wood in the summer will have more moisture than in the winter, if it is kept in a heated environment.

I do somewhat question how much more that balsa would dry out. I am sure that I have wood that is close to 18 years old, and I think it is still useable. It is in a basement, so that would tend to keep it more damp.

I think you would need to do a little testing on wood to see if it is still strong after many years. Then use it if it is still good.

This, I think, is the issue...natural resins. Moisture can be put back in wood, the natural resins cannot (I think). I believe the natural resins are what permits the wood to flex but not break.

I have had mold in the shop...moisture is there. It is within 30' of the edge of a south Mississippi swamp and was not always air-conditioned or heated.

You think? Go grab some of it and bend it and treat it like you used to and see if the sheets split and the sticks become three or four shorter ones when waved figorusly around the room.

Basements down here would be an indoor pool.

I have arranged a little test. I really hate the idea of throwing out over $700 in balsa.

Ken

I have replaced old balsa. It was brittle. It may have been brittle 20 years ago but it wasn't going into a plane I was building. mk

I know I can use it for other stuff (?) but most of the time we want the lightness and strength...I guess if I was into HO trains, there would be other things I could do with it.

Ken