With the popularity of hobby crafts, balsa wood begin to be familiar to us. Before a long time ago, the people who lived in South America has began to use balsa wood. Compared with the current applications, the pioneer use of balsa wood seems to be more practical. Those people used the balsa wood to make small boats. Nowadays, in some tourist attractions, the balsa boats are still used to carry the tourists. In comparison with the rubber dinghy, balsa boat could not endure so much vibration and shock. But the balsa wood could highlight the local areas' characteristics.

Why balsa wood is still popular nowadays?
To be honest, there are some other materials which are endowed with the same ability as the balsa wood. For example, while making boats, the metal or rubber seem to be more stable than balsa wood. But, human are the creature of sentimental nostalgia. So, as you could see, even we have the technology that could make the traffic much faster, we retain the slow trolley bus in some areas. Some items need to be developed while some items need to be retained.

What are the characteristics of balsa wood?
In addition to the retaining on purpose, the characteristics of balsa wood win itself the chance to last. Balsa wood is light and strong, thereby, it become the favored materials of the hobby makers. At the same time, for the surfboard makers, balsa wood is a more environmental friendly choice. With proper maintenance, both the balsa models and the balsa surfboards could be used for a long time.

How could you maintain the balsa wood?

After making your own balsa items, you should better paint the items to protect the items from the worms. Place the items in the cool and dry area. Too much moisture would rot the wood and if you place the wood under sun, cracks would appear soon. Thereby, you need to know the characteristics of balsa wood to make it last longer.