[captgrant88]

im looking for a palce (s) where i can buy good wood for carving. i am a beginner so my first few attempts will not be too good and dont really wan tto put too much money into block bass wood, any recommendation on where i can buy ? unfrotunaly here in south florida i dont know of any hobby shops that sell carving wood. any adive and help is greatly appreciated.

[birdcarver7]

hello captgrant88,i,m from nova scotia,so my contacts would be too ,cost of shipping,i would suggest,typing in wood carving shops on google,even put in flordia,i sure you will find something close to you,save on shipping costs,most carry basswood,tuplo,but some carry cedar and pine,which would be cheaper,i,m sure you,ll find something down there,good hunting,regards,milford.

[wade clark]

Captgrant,
Hi!
I'm in North Florida, Port St. Joe, near Panama City.
There is a seller on ebay, Fullcycle is their ebay handle, who has treated me GREAT! I've bought a lot of beautiful kiln-dried wood from them, several species. Their sycamore is gorgeous! They also have Southern basswood (northern is better), butternut and lots of others. Fullcycle also sells outright, not on ebay. Most of what I've bought from them has been outright sales. They've only charged actual shipping.
There are lots of sellers on ebay...look under carving block, carving blank, turning blank and individual woods like butternut, chestnut, basswood, tupilo, tupelo, cypress....
If you like carving green wood, wait for the next storm and go out with your chainsaw! Last summer I gathered some of just about any kind of wood I could imagine! Including banyon...don't know how it carves yet!
Michaels craft stores sell some basswood blocks, but they want 6 prices for it!!!
Shipping is a really big PIT on ebay! Watch out! Make sure you know what the person is charging you shipping and not gouging you! I had one seller in North Carolina, NC is part of their seller I.D., that tried to triple the shipping after posting what the shipping would be! He straitened it out under protest.
Also check feedback! In my opinion, from experience, if they have much less than 100% positive, you're taking a risk! Maybe if they've had hundreds or thousands of sales and still have 99% that's good. But their % system is flawed. In school, a 65% is passing. In business a 65% means they had an unsettled disagreement with 1 out of every 3 people they've dealt with! If they were wrong half the time, they cheated every 6th person they dealt with! Sometimes ebay kicks people off when they hit 89%...haven't figured out their guidelines yet...but that makes 95% a c- not an a, and a 90% a d-, not a b.
Too much information, hu!
Have a great day!
Wade

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I haven't bought from him yet, but lots of people swear by "Dale Heineki" for the quality of his wood and fair prices...I have bought off ebay and the wood was really lousy, it was southern basswood and spalted in places, northern basswood is your best carving wood. I have been getting all of my wood from Don Wedll I will edit this later and put his web site in here...also Heineki if I can find it, however I think you can find both with a google search. Dave

[wade clark]

Also if you want big pieces, call a tree service. Check the phone book. They'll gladly sell it to you rather than haul it to a landfill. I got a 7' long 4' thick hollow oak log I'm carving oak bird chairs out of from a local tree service. It was one of 3 great oak logs, one was 13+' long 3' thick, he brought me and only charged me $200 for all of it! Do a search under oak bird chairs on here and you can see the chairs I'm carving.
Good luck!
Wade

[Canopener]

Dale Heinecke's # is [715] 822-8642 . I don't think he has website. I have not used him but his name keeps coming up. You could also try:www.basswoodproducts.com or www.itascawoodproducts.com, have heard they are good. I have been kept busy with aspen that blew down last winter, free!, and last wood I bought was butternut from Woodcraft. Any body got any favorites for butternut?
Have fun,
Jim

[Just Carving]

http://www.heineckewood.com/

Bob

[Randy48]

When I buy carving wood (basswood), I buy from http://www.itascawoodproducts.com/ great service, fast shipping, and very good prices!

As a beginning carver and being in Florida, you might want to look around for cypress knees, you can find them in roadside stands for a couple dollars each. They are very unique, carve easy (probably easier then basswood) and are perfect for santas, wizards, and most anything else.

Most of my wood I pickup out in the woods. We get alot of high winds here in Missouri and a short walk out back with a bow saw usually keeps me well supplied with oak, walnut, elm, etc.

[wade clark]

There's a roadside stand just north of Lake Wales that sells cypress knees. I love to carve them, but with power tools I get a sinus headache if I'm not careful about dust. They sell them from $5 to $50 each, lots of big neat ones for $15 to $20, very few over $20.
I've carved castles, dragons and pelicans out of them.
It's illegal to cut them in the wild, unless it's your land. They're protected by state legislation. The trees need them to breathe, I think.
Wade

[Canopener]

Liferescue, Thanks for the website for Heineke, all I could find was his phone #. May need some basswood soon.
Jim