Woods?

[Guest]

Othr than Pine and Basswood, what are some great woods to carve....as in just as easy as basswood...same type of grain etc? ???

[AlArchie]

Re: Woods?

Aspen works for me! It's mite harder than basswood, but with about the same stable grain patterns. Light whitish in color but may have some pink and gray streaking. Hold detail well with little fuzzing.

Al

[santacarvinlady]

Re: Woods?

I'll agree with Al on the aspen - it carves beautifully. And, at least around here, you can get it at your local lumberyard. Pine will probably always be my favorite, but depending on what you're carving, basswood seems to be the choice of most carvers.

Teri

[Guest]

Re: Woods?

Hi,
You asked about what woods people like to carve. In addition to bass, I like butternut and catalpa. In fact, I think the two have a color and grain somewhat alike.

Butternut can be medium hard but not as hard as walnut. Great when wanting to leave the carving unpainted.

Lengths of Catalpa tree limbs make great wood spirits. Catalpa has big leaves and long beans after blooming and it is fairly common here in the Midwest.

Donna T.

[ziem]

Re: Woods?

I would definitely give butternut a try. It is a nice grained wood, which can take a nice oil finish.

Ed

[Guest]

[clifford_parker]

Re: Woods?

I have used basswood, butternut, maple, birch, poplar/aspen, alder, oak, walnut, and sumac. Don't be afraid of 'hardwoods' just keep your tools sharp and your strop handy.

[FatEddy]

Re: Woods?

I'll carve/whittle most anything I can lay my hands on. About the only wood I just don't like is Sycamore due to the gnarly grain. All that said, if I was to pick something other the Basswood or Pine I'd go for Butternut. It carves nicely, has a nice grain (kind of walnut like), and is pretty much readilly available. Understand catalpa is nice also, but haven't gotten around to trying it just yet (soon).

[Mr._Munchkin]

Re: Woods?

Don't like Sycamore, eh? That a shame, I have a whole lot here(read: dying sycamore trees) and it is rather good looking. After I get around to using some I'll let you know. If it doesn't carve nice then sycamore IS the most useless tree in the world. By the way, how do you mean 'gnarly'?

[Guest]

Re: Woods?

I don't know much about sycamore, but I have to think cottonwood is the most useless, cracks when dry, hard to split when wet, not even good for fire wood....indians only used the roots for Kachinas.....imho

[FatEddy]

Re: Woods?

gnarly xxx my term for grain that runs in all directions xxx is very pretty if sawn correctly, but a beast to carve. To bad too, because I really like to looks of it (not to mention there's tons of it laying around).

[FK]

Re: Woods?

Any comments on birch?

We had a bad ice storm several months ago and countless birch trees are broken and down in N.E.. If it is a stable wood I will plan on harvesting some standing deadwood in March/April.

Regards,
FK

[FatEddy]

Re: Woods?

Get all you can get xxx it's a bit on the hard side, but carves nicely and lleaves very polished tool marks and is stable.