working with Balsa wood

Working with Balsa wood is according to me not very suitable. Balsa is very soft wood and therefore it’s a good material to work on with your Dremel. And it it’s a dusty job to do, to cut out all the stones from a wall. I start with all the horizontal lines and after that I do the vertical ones. As I like stone walls that are not straight, the fact that it’s not possible to get good straight lines is nice.

But as soon as you start with finishing the wall with stain or paint, the problems start. From all sides the wood fibre become loose. To clear this, first put on a lacquer layer on and after it’s dry you can remove the fibres with scrubbing ( not sure if this is the correct word !?) If you do this before you put the lacquer on, you will loose the colour from the stain. Then finish with two more lacquer layers.

Old entrance from a formar track.

By now I only use Balsa for my tunnel entrances. This because instead of plaster it’s stronger, so there’s less risk for damage when you’re working on your mountains or if you want to use them for a new track