Fire Series Race #4 - Getting Ready! Also, Pinewood vs. Basswood?

[CivilWarTalk]

The summer has been good to me, I've added an air compressor to my tool lineup to help with wheel prep, and now I also have a scroll saw and I'm cutting a lot of new bodies.

I've got at least two BASX cars nearly ready to run the September race, I've already cut my bodies and I just placed an order for some parts, but I should be good to go, and hopefully even faster than last time!

I may also have a 3rd car to dip my feet into street stock!

- also -

My wife frequently visits AC Moore to get yarn for her hobbies, and I bought a 1/4" sheet of Basswood to play with. I'm wondering, is this stuff heavier than Pine? Is it stronger?

 

[BlewBYu]

Basswood is slightly lighter than pine. It is strong enough for PWD

 

[CivilWarTalk]

Strange, this basswood feels heavier, but I haven't cut it into a body yet.

 

[BlewBYu]

I assure you basswood is slightly lighter

 

[Guest]

I assure you basswood is slightly lighter

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/weigt-wood-d_821.html

 

[Crash Enburn]

And, according to Bill's chart (↑), slightly heavier than sugar pine. /images/boards/smilies/eek.gif

 

[BulldogRacing]

BSB, thats a cool link thanks! It looks like density is how to judge wood weight. Sugar pine is 25 and bass wood is 26. Very close. I have found that depending on the tree and what part of the wood your block is cut from varies a lot. How dry is that wood will make a huge difference. I have made some out of cedar as well. I like how Bass wood drills but it's twice as difficult to router without your bit wanting to wander. I love Sugar Pine as far as how easy it is to router. i used to have problems drilling sugar pine but after about 500 cars messed up I have a good handle on drilling perfect alignment, but I still check them before passing the car and proceeding to the next step. If it don't pass it goes into the scout donation box! Great info BSB, thank you.

 

[GravityX]

Thanks for the chart Bill. I guess just about anything you want to know is out there if you look hard enough. The engineering tool box is a very helpful sight for many reasons.

 

[Guest]

I assure you basswood is slightly lighter

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/weigt-wood-d_821.html

A friend of mine told me about Aspen. He found it at Lowes. I tried it and it was also very good. Drilled, sanded, routed, and painted very nice. There is very little grain and it drills and paints great.

 

[BlewBYu]

I have seen that chart before. I just never looked up "sugar pine" as a separate type. I stand corrected.

Thx for posting it.

BBU

 

[Vitamin K]

Hmm, looking over that chart, maybe I should obtain some blocks of lignum vitae, in the event that my kids end up competing under the same Awana ruleset (no added weights allowed) next year...

 

[CivilWarTalk]

So here are a bunch of blanks I've cut, the ones with slots are for scout builds, still have that as a requirement in our council, a few others need to be tossed for bad cuts on the saw, or I'll use them as experimental cars.

I love the new scroll saw, it's awesome!

Here is one of my basswood planks, all measured out to make blanks!

 

[CivilWarTalk]

12 Basswood Blanks freshly cut on my saw...

3 Pinewood Bodies Ready to drill and get rolling!

Going to be a busy few weeks!

 

[GravityX]

Way to go CWT! You'll keep busy for a little while...