Now You May Know More Interesting Information About Balsa Trees

If you are interested in making models, then balsa wood won't be strange for you. Balsa wood is made from balsa trees, and there are some interesting facts about the balsa trees. Do you want to know something about the balsa tree? If so, you can read this article below. This article talks about the balsa wood mainly from three aspect: harvest, weight and historical facts.
Balsa trees grows as thicky as grass, so the tree will die before it is mature if it isn't strong enough. The strongest trees survive and will grow up to reach 60 to 90 feet high in about six to 10 years. The diameters of the trees of that age are about 12 to 45 inches. The evergreen leaves of the mature trees are about 8 to 10 inches wide while the leaves of young trees are about 4 feet across.
The trees will be harvested after 6 to 10 years of growth in order to avoid the commercial value of the wood being ruined by the water-storing habits. If the trees are not harvested in time, they will rot from inside and die before reaching 100 years old. The mature trees have deep roots and when the weather become dry, the roots absorb less water. The grades of balsa wood will vary in weight and become heavier. The heavier the balsa wood is , the more widely it can be used. The balsa is light and it can bear more pressure than it looks like. It is the favorite material to make surfboards in old days. Compared with the plastic foam, balsa wood is one of the types of the green materials which makes it is still popular among surfers. In the old time, balsa wood was used to make wood rafts to transport armies across rivers by The Incas. And Hawaiian use a local balsa to carve surfboards.