I’m about to start building a BAGRS steam engine, and the plans call for basswood for the deck. Is there a reason why it needs to be basswood, or is this just a protocol for a building material that everyone can get, and that is relatively light and strong? I have oodles of pine, Douglas fir, cedar and other material at hand that I don’t believe would add more than a few ounces to the build.
Thoughts on other favored woods most appreciated by this newcomer.
I think most plans call for basswood because its readily available in sizes that we use for the hobby.
Personally, I like cutting my own from poplar or fir. Pine is good, too, but the wide grain sometimes causes issues with strength.
basswood is widely available, fairly strong, lightweight and more or less easy to carve…
If you want a showpiece mix woods like maple, cherry and oak.
If you got other woods (except maybe balsa) go ahead and use them. Cedar and redwood might tend to splinter, tho.
Basswood is fairly inexpensive, easy to get and alreay cut to sizes. Oaks ect… you have to cut yourself. I plan on building another one and will use mahogany. I only used basswood because it was my first attemp at that project. Now that I know what im doing I can modify it.
Canadian Spruce is also high in the strength to weight ratio, it is favored for wing struts in airplanes, Also it is common in your neck of the woods ( pun intended) and should be readily avail.
Basswood has a fine straight grain and is sold in hobbyshops. It’s white, it grows fast, it’s plentiful. Most lumber companies think of it as junkwood, perhaps because the market for it is very small and it has no value as a construction material. At the wholesale level it’s C H E A P.
The producers of precut basswood have been steady advertisers in the Mags and the mags have promoted its use editorially - a bit of vested interest there maybe.
So it has this big reputation, but it’s far from the only kid on the block, and there is no “one best wood” by any means.
Basswood is fine stuff all the same, especially if you’re modelling in smaller scales where maybe you don’t want coarse grain. When I modelled in small scale, ignoring the big magazine’s advice, I used mostly balsa with no problem. Where I wanted some extra strength, such as in the frames of freightcars, I’d use pine, bass, poplar, whatever…
In large scale I cut my own stuff on a tablesaw from what I have lying around.
Softwoods are way easier to work than hard. I mean soft by nature, not by species - fir can be as hard and grainy as oak; bass is soft, almost like soft white pine, if you get my drift.
Bass is related to poplar which also has a fine straight grain, also Balm of Gilead, which I know for a fact has been sold as basswood, (there’s no difference except the name as far as I can tell, and I’ve researched it, FWIW!). Along with Mahog and Oak, Poplar can be bought in nice straight dry little boards quite cheaply at Home Depot, Lowes, or Rona.
The poplar family is huge; most of these woods are very good for modelmakers. Poplar comes in a variety of colours too, so you can have fun mixing and matching with it!
Also, don’t overlook using veneers, either AS veneers, or ripped into miniature planks or thin panels for your models. Some veneers rip easily, others will splinter. Oak veneer will splinter, though there may be techniques for ripping it that I don’t know about. When you buy, pay attention to the grain for sure.
And there are stir sticks, popsicle sticks, and tongue depressors at your local dollar store, probably in the crafts department. They seem to be made of a fairly hard softwood. In these places and in craft stores you’ll see wooden boxes etc intended to be painted at home, many made of basswood or basswood relatives.
I have seen large scale models made of a wide variety of woods and they look great. In museums you’ll see model ships, trains, and buildings using all kinds of woods, including both hards and exotics.
Cedar, Redwood, mahogany and teak all resist decay for outdoor work.
Cedar is nice and soft, easy to work, can be straight and fine-grained enough for Large scale, IMHO. It’s my personal fave for bridges and buildings because it’s cheap and plentiful where I live.
Basswood is precut and available in hobbyshops. Other than that, there’s no big advantage to basswood over any other poplar-family wood that I can see.
Thanks fellas. I’ll just stick with clear vertical grain Doug fir. After all, this little steam engine would have been hauling … Douglas fir … out of the local Oregon woods!
Yup, that’ll do it. Make the loco out of the local stuff, just like the real thing would have been made. We have a great hobby store in our local town who insists on cutting everything in inches rather than metric - he’s a great help for any project I might have going, as the plans in the GR mag are all in inches. Anything I can’t get, I make using my ProXXon table saw. Unlike you guys with your huge shops, here in UK very few of us have space for a proper shop - I sure as heck don’t.
tac, ig & The Cascadia Boys
Tac, somehow my “huge shop” is all cluttered up with so much junk that it will take a while to get to the table saw. Sometimes less is definitely more!
Tac, you’d laugh at my ‘proper’ shop - I have some stuff in an 8x10 shed that I drag out in the sunshine to use, a 4 foot workbench that’s taken up by a small drill press, a 13" scroll saw… and clutter, and my choice of the freezer, washing machine and sometimes the bed - if I spread newspapers… No un-completed model stuff allowed in the kitchen or livingroom because she’s afraid the idjit dogs will choke on something…
Hey, guys, let me tell you about my workshop and what I do in it.
I have a reloading space at one end - it measures 3 ft by 1.5 ft - I reload ten different rifle and handgun loads.
On the same space, I cast my bullets/distill the train water/tumble my cases.
Underneath, I store my powder and reloading supplies - not too many there isn’t enuff space.
To my left, I have loads of sacrificial train stuff on racks.
On top of the racks there is a space of 20 inches by 15 inches - that stores my Sherline lathe and bits, and where
I use it, too. On top of the Sherline lathe, hanging on the wall, is a ProXXon mini-table saw.
To my right, the same space with two fans on it that I use when casting.
Behind me on my left - the lawn mower and on my right, a few handtools and electrical tool hanging on the wall.
Total space - 45sq ft - the shed is 6 x 8 feet.
That’s it.
All of it.
There is nowhere else.
tac, ig y Los Hermanos Perditos
Terry,
as Monty Python used to say - "luxury’
Well, Tac, you are a model of economy. I can testify that “if you build it, the junk will come…”