Bad basswood?

[therenow]

I have some basswood 3X3X24 that has been in my garage for about 6 years. Now that I am getting in to caricature carving again, the wood splits when carving with the grain, will not accept detail cuts without splitting, etc. At first, I thought it wwas my knife (Flexcut) so I layed it on the s\ceramins, stropped and again, poor results.

Should I firewood the basswood or is ther a way to recover it?

[Riverman]

I would bet that the basswood is to old and dried out. Check out Dale and Tim Heinecke at Heinecke Wood Products for some good basswood at a good price. When I first started out I had an old piece of basswood and it was bad too.
Get some new wood and let the chips fly!
Bob

[Curtscarving]

Try a solution 50 50 water and alcohol to see if it still splits, if that works you could try a humidifier to restore moister content to wood.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Curts the one with the answer!

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Yep, you can get a little "misting" bottle at wallyworld for .50 cents....50/50 will help a lot!

[bassman]

I have some basswood that is really hard to carve and was told by them that knows that it was probably cut at the wrong time of the year. Apparently, if the wood is cut during Spring to Fall, the sap dries out in the wood leaving it orangey yellow in colour and tough to carve. The best harvest time is in the winter when the sap has gone back down to the roots. This leaves the wood light and white and easy to carve. I now try and judge each piece I buy on it's colour and weight. The whiter and lighter it is, the better the carving quality.

My 2 cents worth anyway

Elliott

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

My wood is stored in my garage, even in Fl. with 900 % humidity, (ok 90 % feels like 900 %) I still have had wood dry out. I always use the 50/50 mixture and it works every time.

Dave

[therenow]

Thanks for the info. I will try the 50/50 as well as order more from Heinecke. Can't believe what a good price and the quality is great.

[Dougie]

What type of alcohol is used in the mixture?
Tanks in advance
Doug

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

I have used both rubbing and denatured, both worked.

Dave