Types of wood For Beginners.

[samueldongard]

There are numerous kinds of wood to carve, but basswood is a good starter. If you plan not to paint your work and want to show nice grain, you may want to choose Butternut. Another nice carving wood, but one that is a little more expensive, is Tupelo. This is what i can advice to a beginner woodcarver for the little i know. so any advice or more informations on types of wood are welcomed.

[carver33]

I agree with the Basswood and Butternut, but would caution that Tupelo is really suited to power carving, especially for beginners. Another wood that I've recently run into is Buckeye - very similar to Basswood, but possibly a bit harder (at least the piece I have).

But just about any wood (with a few exceptions) can be good carving wood. My first carvings were done with limbs from a dead Apple tree. One thing it taught me was how to get an edge on a knife <grin>. The next several carvings were done in Poplar from an old palate. Since then, I've tried several different types of wood and found that just about all of them have good points and a few bad points.

Some of the wood that I have carved and my opinion (for what it's worth):

Basswood (of course) - nice tight even grain and not too hard. takes detail pretty well and paints nicely or looks nice with a clear coat. Note: My experience is that Basswood "fuzzes" badly with power carving and that Tupelo is much more suited, though many power carvers do a wonderful job with it.

Apple - hard as the devil, but has a tight and fairly even grain and takes extremely fine detail very well. Very nice looking grain and can be polished to a beautiful luster.

Poplar - a little stringy and sharp tools are required to avoid tearing the grain, but grain is fairly tight and even. Have not painted it, but clear coats fairly well. Advantage is that it is readily available and sometimes free (at least in the eastern US).

Mahogany - like poplar, the grain is a little stringy and will tear without sharp tools. The grain is not as straight as some and the wood is somewhat harder. Grain pattern is beautiful when polished and/or clear coated.

Cherry - (one of my favorites) - depending on the age and curing the wood can be hard to VERY hard, but the grain is generally very tight and pretty straight. It can be a little brittle at times, but takes fine detail very well. Cherry is beautiful when clear coated and ages to a nice deep reddish color with age.

Catalpa - I've had both hard and soft varieties of this wood and find the grain to be un-even and it is somewhat difficult to develop fine detail. Once finished, the grain reminds me very much of Oak.

Sasafrass - again, as hard as the devil and grain is somewhat un-even. Takes detail pretty well and has a similar appearance to oak when clear coated. Also, it smells so good while carving.

Butternut - about the same hardness as Basswood with a very distinct grain pattern. Fairly tight grained and takes detail fairly well. It's extremely pretty when polished and clear coated.

Redwood - (carved one piece) I found it to be fairly straight and even grained, but too soft to take detail well. I might be good for stylized pieces with little sharp detail. I would advise picking up a piece from your local lumber yard or and old piece of lawn furniture and giving it a try.

Buckeye - just started, but my impression it is very similar to Basswood, but maybe just a touch harder and may have a little nicer grain pattern.

Tupelo - my one experience with this wood is that while fairly easy to carve, it is almost impossible to cut cross grain with out tearing the grain (I eve tried with a scalpel). I gave up and gave the semi-carved piece to a power carver who completed it beautifully

With all of the mentioned woods, the most important factor is SHARP tools. I hope to hear from other carvers about their experience and impressions of carving stock.

[Ron T]

Hello and welcome, Samuel. It's nice to have you here with us. There is so much to learn here and a lot of great people here to help you. Don't forget Walnut.

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

I mostly use Basswood for doing caricatures but I have used Butternut for spoons, I finished them in oil, that made the grain really stand out.

Dave

[samueldongard]

Thanks to you all for taking your precious time and energy to answer or comment on my contribution. am also happy for your words of welcome once again thank you members. I am eager to learn more and more every day and why not give what i know.its with pleasure that i will do all here.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

I could start another argument by saying that seasoned oak is the best wood for a beginner as if he could get something out of that then it's uphill all the way. But I won't say that! Clearly basswood is the wood of choice for the beginner and for that fact most everyone else. There a lots of different woods to carve but I personally think the bedrock of woodcarving is Basswood.

[pallin]

I would echo the comments of others re: basswood & butternut. I started with redwood (Sequoia), then mahogany. I've also carved black walnut, sycamore, aspen, manzanita - but, mostly basswood & butternut.