I have balsa that I used in my HO period when i was a kid 50 years ago!
Will balsa hold up as painted trim when it’s used outside?
It seems like it would be ok if painted. Will it?
I doubt it. I’ve had exterior grade plywood rot on me, but I guess there’s always exceptions.
If you’re really set on using it, why not try a few test pieces; leave them outside for a couple of months and see how they hold up.
I would hate to put any effort into something using balsa and find out it deteriorates very soon.
There’s a couple build threads with balsa rolling stock, which would probably be better suited to using up old stock then buildings. As Bruce said rot is a problem with wood intended to be outside in the elements
Doug,
Balsa would not last even here in California with no humidity. Being on the West coast you have access to Old Growth Redwood which is soft and easily machined. Go to a builders salvage yard and look for old Redwood with the smallest growth rings you can find. I was in the logging industry 45 yrs. ago, when we were still cutting Old Growth, sorry “tree hugers”, and I collected as much as I could. Still using it for my trestles and buildings.
i’ve had such good luck with redwood I think I will stay with it. Although it might weather nicely! But I’m afraid paint will not hold very well.
Doug,
The Redwood engine house in the background has been outside for 7yrs. and the paint is stll intact. It has weathered in apperance, but, that’s what we’re looking for.
Doug,
I wouldn’t use balsa outdoors. It soaks liquid like a sponge and the slightest gap or wear in the paint would invite all kinds of trouble.
Redwood will hold paint as well as about any wood and probably better than most although a primer would be a good idea regardless of the type of wood outdoors. Sun seems to deteriorate paint more than moisture at least until the moisture seeps into the wood behind the paint. Redwood is an excellent material for outdoor structures as is cedar (red colored heartwood is better than the white sapwood often used for cheap fencing).
Both can be easily cut into smaller dimensioned stripwood for modeling as well without the fuzzy surface left on balsa and hold up much better outdoors. The biggest enemy of small dimensioned wood is alternating heat and cold causing it to expand and contract. This causes warping, paint cracking and glue joints to pop loose.
Doug your in a desert, it will turn into a fossil before it rots lol…
I too would question balsa use outdoors but I remember the late great Peter Jones used to use cardboard stock to build his structures and they were placed in his English garden which was always damp.
Seems I remember reading that he would soak the cardstock in a water/glue mix. He made some impressive structures as seen in Garden Railways for years.
I still question the use of cardstock in building for outdoors and put it in the same catagory as balsa but if the project was soaked in glue or paint maybe it would hold up for a few years.
Try a test piece.
Good luck
One poster on another site had built a trestle out of balsa. He soaked it with some kind of preservative, or urethane. I forget. But since balsa is like a sponge, it soaked it up and it lasted for a few years.
I would say use the balsa for details that will not be left in the weather, or trade it for something else. I used balsa to make the curved roof ends on my passenger cars, but they do not stay outside in the rain.
Gargraves track used to come with balsa wood ties. It didn’t matter what poison you used to preserve them, even creosote they rarely lasted more than 2 years. Great stuff for inside but not outdoors.
Just the thought of a balsa trestle gives me the chills! I know what the Shay would do to it!
I had a balsa trestle that lived outside for 7 years before replacement. The Shay had no problems with it.
Stu…they were “Basswood” ties that GarGraves used…