Cutting balsa

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Surveyor
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Cutting balsa

Post by Surveyor »

How do you cut balsa without it coming apart?

My last (and first) foray was cutting round plugs and it turned out ok but I know there has to be a better way. I used a jig saw last time and it was a struggle keeping the balsa together. My idea is to use clamped sacrificial luan. I will be recoring my sidedecks in the coming weeks and I sure would appreciate any suggestions/secrets that would make this part of the process a little bit less stressful.
bigd14
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Re: Cutting balsa

Post by bigd14 »

You should be able to use a sharp utility knife (assuming its end grain balsa).

Doug
Doug
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sscoll
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Re: Cutting balsa

Post by sscoll »

Doug's right, use a knife. Reserve your "stress" for NOT CUTTING YOUR FINGERS OFF.!!!
Zach
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Re: Cutting balsa

Post by Zach »

I like a relatively dull fillet knife... Grin.

Balsa shears easily, and the round shape of the blade makes it easy to cut around corners. (Not round corners, but around them... bigger grin.)

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CharlieJ
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Re: Cutting balsa

Post by CharlieJ »

There are also knife blades that go into jig saws. I use them for cutting foam. Those should also do a great job
Surveyor
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Re: Cutting balsa

Post by Surveyor »

Thanks everyone for the replies. I appreciate not being flamed for asking such a basic question too!

My memory is not what it used to be, for various reasons, so I looked back at the pics I took when I did the 4" disks previously. As it turns out I used a utility knife to shape up 4" squares cut with a jig saw. I was 1/2 way to balsa cutting nirvana!
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