If so how do you do it? The ol lady was at Hobby Lobby today and i ran across some and bought it, maybe try to make something while snowed in.

I tried. It's super light and very buoyant. I couldn't get the weight right in it to make anything work right so I ended up junking it. 

i made a popper a couple years back, but lost intrest real quick and never really tried anything else..

A lot of crankbaits are made out of balsa as it is very buoyant. Things to know about balsa: there are different levels of hardness/density, it is very forgiving as far as ballasting, more fragile that other wood. I have made a few crankbaits but it is tough to get both sides even on the blank. Now the only ones I make are D-Bait style out of blanks I buy from Janns or Barlows.

 

Allen

Balsa is hard to make , due to weighting issues , I make my own plugs all the time . Pine wood or bass wood makes a great plug , all you need is a belt sander and band saw and you are good to go.  With balsa make the plug in two separate sections and run a wire through the bait for stability and strenght of your hardware.  Then add a weight inside the two halves and seal them with epoxy .  Then cut a lip and add rattles and it's ready to paint.  I always seal balsa with pour on epoxy to add durability.   Add hooks to the wire and you should be ready to go 

This guy on the tube has some amazing builds using balsa his name channel is Paul Adams check him out he covers pretty much everything

I have always used cedar but have never got the weighting right for cranks.  I'm stuck on spook style lures.