What kind of wood is ideal?

[ocd]

Hello everyone, I'm back after an educational break to learn how to draw. One on the books on Relief Carving recommended "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by, I believe, Betty Edwards. I was browsing at a used bookstore on my way home from Woodcraft, and there it was. I bought it. Best $8 I ever spent. In 10 days I'm drawing portraits that are remarkably decent; my family is flabbergasted at my ability to draw now. The author says, the better you can draw, the better you can carve. Also, drawing in the manner she teaches is really quite relaxing.

OK, now down to my problem:

I want to carve some, like a sign for my friend's shop, with Roman lettering with seriphs and all that. I have got some Bass Wood, similar to Lime wood it's called in England. But one of my references says, and to look at the wood, it's easy to carve, but very bland-no real figure, etc.

I got down some spalted maple, that was a lot harder to push my #9 gouge through. Then I tried some Cherry, that was hard also. If it's too hard, my Carpal Tunnel will act up and that's not ideal.

I've got some sycamore in the racks somewhere, and plenty of mahogany, which the relief carver guy says is the ideal because of the ease, and hue of the wood, etc.

Can bass wood be stained and "dressed up" to where it looks interesting for carving a sign, or is it mostly for full carving of a figure?

Thanks to all you veterans helping out us novices.

ocd.

[pallin]

I believe the basswood will be best for your project because it will resist splitting on delicate parts like the serifs or narrow edges of letters. Perhaps the sign will be more readable if you paint or stain the flat surfaces of lettering. The words will be more important than the grain figure.

[Colin-Partridge]

That is a great book you should try to carve the sign upside down that way you will be able to switch to the right side. Bass wood stains up great have you given any thought to butternut similar in texture to bass wood but it is really beautiful only problem is the cost probably more than double of bass wood.
Colin

[Mitchell]

I too recommend the basswood.

Try a test piece. You can get very good advice here, but there is NOTHING like seeing it for yourself.

Then you can report back what you learned and help someone else in your situation!

[Curly Early]

I have recently been to a couple of sign companies and they showed me a material I was unfamiliar with, for lack of better words, I'd say it was a very dense foam. You could buy this in sheets of various thicknesses. Both of these places carved this, one in doing flat signs, the other glued it up to make 3-D figures. They were doing large fish. It has to be painted, but does very well in weather, and carves easier than wood. If your interested, I'll slip back over and see if I can get the name of it and availability. Earl

[vacation212]

Bass wood is good but would have to be weatherproofed once every one or two years.

[ocd]

Thanks for the feedback.

I bought some butternut, small piece of heartwood that will probably cup as I bandsaw it. Woodcraft had some small pieces.

I tried my hand at carving roman style letters, the tip on my Ws broke, and naturally I lost them. That was with basswood.

The folks at Chipping Away were super nice, and reassured me that the Wecheer I bought to replace the Dremel was good enough for my use, light. I just tired of stuffing all that Dremel arrangement back in the case everytime I wanted to use it. So, the hanging Wecheer, while not "top of the line" is good enough for my purposes. We'll see how I feel about using it when I start carving acanthus leaves on the feet of a walnut table for my wife.

Thanks again, ocd