Australian wood?

[David Stanley]

Originally Posted by Tyton

I take it the timber is best to whittle when dried out?
J

Yes and no. It might even be easier to carve when not dried, splitting, checking and other unwanted wood movement caused distortion, is the problem.

Air dry about a year per inch thickness, is the rough and ready rule and split the log to avoid including the pith in most cases.

[Sharon of the Dell]

Hi Tyton!
I live in No. California. I've never carved bass wood that I know of. I learned how to carve on local wood to be had for free. Most is really hard.
So, no matter were you live, carve what you can find, unless it causes a rash, like our poison oak does.
I will try any wood/ timber as you folks call it, at least once.
Wood is wood!

[sebastiaan56]

Hi Tyton,

Im in the Blue Mountains so I know your frustration when our American colleagues talk about Basswood. A couple of timbers I have carved with some success;

Merbau or Meranti. From Bunnings which means its cheap. I choose the lighter boards. Red Cedar, not as easy to get nowadays but Greg Ward on the previously mentioned Woodwork Forum will help you.

Trend Timbers will have exotics like Beech and Jelutong. You pay for them. The Fijian Mahogony carves very well as does Camphor Laurel. Jacarandah and Poplar are easy to carve but are prone to splitting in my experience. If you have the patience for hardwoods then Cooktown Ironwood will interest you. Good luck.

PS Crapiata is great for character building, a bit like facing the Indians at Cricket.

[GoGuppy]

Hi Tyton

Just came across this posting, as I was looking for any experience on the carving of pandanus wood. Anyone?

But in answer to your query, aussie woods I have used include Huon pine (hard to get a decent supply now, but you may be able to glue up a number of boards to get some thickness), white beech, Tassie (Tasmanian to our US friends) myrtle (which of cause is Nothofagus Cunninghamii, not a true myrtle), Queensland silky oak (also called Grevillia Robusta or Lacewood, that is a member of the Proteaceae family, not a Quercus!). I have also used old recycled english oak (glued up to get thickness) from a trashed piece of furniture. All of these were fine to carve, with sharp tools of course.
I have not tried it yet, but Tassie Oak (Eucalyptus regnans) should be also worthwhile a try, as it is plentiful and easy to get at Bunnings.
If you live in the Sydney area, have a look at Anagote Timbers (www.anagote.com) in Marrickville, they have a great range of unusual timbers and also sell carving tools (no connections, just a happy customer).

Happy carving,
Cheers mate.

[mobjack68]

Ditto to what Sharon ot Dell has shared. I highly encourage ALL folks to cut a little (at least a little) on limbs/branches/chunks that are found close by. Some of the stuff might really surprise you.

We know the carvers in Australia are faced with trees/wood that is vastly different than in the US. There may be few commonalities but I am sure there is wood to be carved.

I lucked into a species locally that is called Paulownia (Paulownia fortunei) native to Southeast Asia, extremely common to China/Japan...or at least it was until they almost depleted them. They found a home here...(not the Chinese...the trees) This wood is softer and lighter than basswood, cuts easier and holds detail almost as well. To most of the folks in my neighborhood??? It is a junk tree, no commercial value. The leaf litter in the fall is huge (leaves are LARGE) and the seed pods are about like running over walnuts when on the lawnmower. My good fortune....

tree parts??? hack 'em up til you find something you like....
good luck

[Robson Valley]

Once upon a time, long ago, Australia embarked on a tree seed exchange program. Part of the rationale was a measure of self-sufficiency with respect to newsprint pulp fiber. So, in came Monterey Pine (Pinus radiata) with the deliberate intention of growing a pulp fiber crop.

Now, fast growing conifers have relatively short fiber when compared with much slower growing conifers in colder climates (this goes off into the REAL tonewood discussions). The longest conifer fiber is white spruce (Picea glauca) from the central interior of British Columbia/Prince George region. Anyway, APM (Australian Paper Mills) supported a great deal of wood fiber research. No doubt some of the career success enjoyed by my PhD supervising professor, Prof A.B. Wardrop/LaTrobe.

Ironically, there's enough P. radiata now for it to have crept into the timber marketplace (aka lumber). Aussie woodworkes fondly refer to it as Pinus crapiata. Just something that you really needed to know for no reason at all.

[sebastiaan56]

Monterey Cypress is a Macrocarpa in Australia Robson, see here Cupressus macrocarpa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I have made a few guitars using it for soundboards. It is very different to Pinus Radiata which is a plantation pine used for construction but is also called Monterey Cypress on Wiki, go figure. Pinus radiata - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Has anyone tried Cotoneaster? Supposed to be as good as Boxwood. Sharon is right about exploring local local timbers but I have some Ironbark that just will not yield to a chisel. Another surprise is Cypress Pine from Bunnies, great for painted items or items where grain is effective, eg utensils.

[Robson Valley]

I was referring to the "plantation pine" = Pinus radiata. A common (and therefore useless) name for it in North America is Monterey Pine. If everyone was required to use the latin names, none of this confusion would ever arise. OTOH, You good folks call it "Crapiata", which likely sums up its carving value rather well.