real beginner question

[dshadow110]

What type wood is the most used for carving?

[Mitchell]

Depends on what is being carved.

[Dicky]

First kind would be free. After that Basswood , Poplar or Aspen would be good for a newbie.

[cut up]

I don't think I've spent $150 for wood this year, and they have been special projects, so I agree with Dicky about the free.
Michael

[STAR]

I agree, free is good. You soon develop an eye for free. Opportunities are everywhere, it might just take a bit of training.

At my age the only lusting I do is for free wood. Having said that, for a special project for a Chrismas present I did spend $200 for a large board of Jelutong to make a near life size Christmas Nutcracker Toy Soldier. But that $200 was well spent because I would have spent more than that on a Christmas present for my daughter and the result including the other monetry inputs I put into it was well worth the $350 or so that it cost. A lot of it was also free or "stolen" timber.

I have enough offcuts from it to last me a lifetime plus what I can "steal" or salvage. Sometimes old furniture going to the tip or landfill can provide some special wood. Soon your friends will be looking out for you especially if you give them little gifts of your work at appropriate times. I started by giving out some pens I had made, now their is a selection of Bottle Stoppers etc.

Your friends don't care who much you know, but how much you care.

That is why it is good to have a good selection of friends not interested in Woodwork or Carving. Then you get first pick, not somebody's left overs. lol

Pete

[Claude]

As Mitchell says, it depends...
To maybe make it clearer to you, it would help to know if you are planning to do chainsaw carving of wood to be left outside or something for indoors only? Are you going to carve large pieces that will be left unpainted, such as sculptures? Are you going to carve small caricatures of people and animals? Do you prefer stylistic carvings that show off the beauty of the wood? Wood for chainsaw carving is often quite different from wood for small Santas, for example. It would also help us to help you if we knew the general area where you live. West Coast (USA, Canada) is often different than East Coast wood, which are both different than European wood... Notice that most of the people who have responded above all list their city, state or province, or a geographical area...

Give us a description of what type of carving you'd like to do, and we'll give you lots of advice; some of it will even be good advice

Claude

[Bob K.]

I agree with Claude...it depends on what you are planning to carve. If you give us some more information we can better answer your question.

[Robson Valley]

Western red cedar is the icon of Pacific northwest coast wood. I scavenge logging debris piles for more free wood than I can use in a lifetime. . . or three or four lifetimes. BUT, it will not hold much detail at all (switch to alder/Alnus viridis).
Is there a cultural style that you would like to explore?
Is there a carving motif that you would like to explore?

I realize that this requires some "navel-gazing." Best is to go exploring = try the same carving in several woods. Simple bird body for example. . . what's next?

[medicinedog]

As a beginner use what's cheap and local. Once you hone what it is you want to carve you will want specific woods. Welcome to the group. Lar

[William]

"What type wood is the most used for carving? "

Basswood aka Linden or Lime in the UK