Balsa for ties

My opinnion, way too soft.

Look at Basswood.   I would be afraid the spikes will just pull out of the balsa too easy.   Also it crushes easy.

Way too soft and will not hold spikes; if the commercial ties are too perfect then make your own.

Yes what others have said, it's way too soft.

Well if you only want to have old looking track, and don't care whether it will hold up to trains running on it then go ahead and use Balsa. It's junk for ties otherwise. Don't shortcut on track as it is a basic ingrediant on a model railroad.

Bob

One thing about ties is they are the link that holds your rail to the road bed.  You can have the greatest road bed and sub-road bed in the world and if you put some crap ties in you will have crap for track work. 

You must have some consistency in thickness or your track will have humps and dips.  You can glue down some good ties that will make a nice flat place for your rail to sit.  Afterwards you can use a wire brush on a Drimel it will only take away the soft grain of the wood leaving the hard grain that will still be the same dimension of the original tie.  This will allow you to have rotten ties and the ability to have reliable track work.

Make yourself a test bed to try it out on.  If you want a few ties to play with give me your address and I will send you some.

Ken the guy from AR

I make mine from western white wood, and even that is a bit tough for spiking..next time I think I will try sugar pine.  I agree balsa is way too soft, but suspect basswood would require pre-drilling for spikes.

I do have trouble getting it all perfectly level.  I use a belt sander, but that leaves something to be desired.

Bob I made a bunch of ties for a narrow gauge project out out of basswood and they spiked great.

Very nice Ken, what did you use in there for ballast/ground cover?

Geoff,

Handlay a short section using each material and decide for yourself.

Matt

         Thanks everyone, I think I'll try a test bed of some sort. This has me

    thinking of trying a basswood tie followed by 2 or 3 Balsa ties. I may be

    able to get away with it since the trains will be slow and I'll only be using

    one maybe two 4 axle diesels. I doubt my layout will ever see one of 

    those legendary 20+ lbs steamers I've read about. Not that I wouldn't

    like to try!

         Geoff

Basswood and Balsa don't take color the same as each other.

Geoff    I just cut my own from scrap wood, you just need a wood thats not to hard and not to soft, there not as perfect as bought ones, but thats what your looking for. Then I glue a strip of sand paper to a nice flat piece of wood for a sanding block to get them level.

Stephen from Down Under    (cTr...Choose the Right)

Thanks, it was a small layout I built last year.  Took it to Indy and it got a warm reception.

I used Woodland Scenic’s Talus.  I wanted it to look coarse and it fit the bill.

Ken

If you don't mind railroad ties that are low-profile, a tad wide and a challenge to insert spikes...but are value priced...

Birch wood coffee stir sticks!

Matt

Thanks for the information.  I really like their products.  Again that is really neat, I love the texture the Talus provides.