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 Homemade Janka Test on Balsa
The "Soft" woods are the coniferous family, in existence for about 250 million years. They use cones to reproduce (gymnosperms) and have needle like leaves that tend to stay attached year-round. This leads to the nickname "Evergreens". Cypress, however, is in this family and sheds it's leaves in the winter like the broadleaf family. The broadleaf trees are a much younger family, coming around about 150 million years ago. They use flowers to attract insects. Once fertilized, these flowers turn into fruit, nuts, beans, etc (angiosperms). These trees, when in temperate climates, will often shed their leaves entirely in the winter. For this they are referred to as deciduous. Live Oak, however, is in this family and will keep leaves on year round. The nickname for the angiosperms is "Hardwood". The range of variety in the "Hardwoods" is huge. The softest lumber in the world, Balsa, and the hardest wood, Lignum vitae (Guaiacum officnale), fall into this family. Many of the "hardwoods" will actually sink in water. The "fruits" produced by this family (beans, citrus, apples, peaches, acorns, nuts, etc.) shows the tremendous variation in the family members compared to the cones and seeds of the evergreens.
Due to its extreme lightness, Balsa was the original core used in surfboards. The surfing movies of the 1960's with Elvis and Frankie and Anette all featured large boards with Balsa cores. The movies are the main use for Balsa wood in other areas, as well. Many of the screen destroyed wooden items in films are actually made from Balsa wood. It's unlikely that the cowboy smashed with the wooden chair in the saloon-fight scene would ever get up again if that were a real chair. We have supplied Balsa lumber directly to "Desperado, The return of El Mariachi" and "The Getaway" with Steve McQueen. (Look for scenes where they drive through porches and trash can racks with little damage to the car). We supplied the wood for the bat cage in the timeless screen epic "Ace Ventura 2, When Nature Calls", but that was cedar.
 Balsa wood
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