Hardening Balsa

[Purple Baron]

Is there a product that hardens balsa, not a sealer, but actually hardens the balsa so you can't mark it when people prode your boat with their finger, to see how light but strong it is, and they tap it harder and harder until they dent it !!! idiots !!!!

tHe baRon pUrplE
Marked for life

[martin richards]

try impregnating it with epoxy varnish.

[Purple Baron]

Yeah, I've been told to just paint it with thinned down CA, suppose you thin it down with paint thinners, metholated spirits, turpentine....which is best ?

An old guy (my father) reacons he can recall a product that actually strengthened timber, and it wasn't CA.

tHe baroN puRPle
Thin on brain cells

[martin richards]

Another way you could try is a bit messy, though, using polyurethane foam aerosol and acetone. Pour about 1/2 " acetone into the cap of the P/U aerosol can and then start squirting the foam on top. The acetone dissolves the foam. Carry on adding more foam until the acetone dissolves no more. Stir briskly to (hopefully) release all the gassing agent and immediately brush liberally onto both surfaces of the balsa.
It dries much more quickly than epoxy but may bubble a bit on the surface. It also penetrates the wood well. I've also used it to skin balsa with glass fibre tissue but surface bubbles are a pain with g/f.
Take care to read the warning instructions on the packages.

[Andrew Gilchrist]

try epoxy thinned with 30% isopropyl alcohol

or thin ca is good

or aeroplane dope works as well

[George Pfeifer]

You might want to take a look at the following:

http://www.star-distributing.com/smith/products.html

Or

http://www.smithandcompany.org/

Or


http://www.systemthree.com/index.html

George