Bass wood problem

[Chahlie]

Hi All,

I am having a problem with the bass wood I am carving. The problem seems to be that while carving large chunks seem to come off. Am I carving against the grain? Is the wood just bad? Carving cross grain doesn't seem to be a problem. Is there anything I can do to change the carving charcateristics of the bass wood( or any wood)?



Chahlie

[AlArchie]

That grain orientation might just be the problem....try turning the piece over if you can. Or, you might just have a bad piece of wood. That happens every so often. You might try spraying that piece with either water or rubbing alcohol, and carve while damp. Either will rust your tools if they are not dried afterwards and wiped down with either light oil or silicone or some other rust inhibitor.

Al

[Paul_Guraedy]

When the grain goes crazy on me (carving with hand tools) I turn to my power tools. This will get me past the rough spots and I can then return to my hand tools.

[rick-in-seattle]

Once in a while when a piece of wood is squared, it is not squared to the direction of the grain. Or a good piece of wood may have one area that has wild grain.

If we choose to carve on that piece of wood, we need to adjust the direction of our cuts.

It happens quite often to me because I end up with turnings and basswood that I won't sell to my customers. So I carve them and sell the finished carvings instead.

The best advice is go slow; if you see that the wood is not cutting right, change your approach. Good luck

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

Sometimes taking smaller slices instead of big chips helps also. Sometimes they have to be real small.

[bcarvings]

Hi,
I had the same problem with a 1x1, so matter how small I cut a peice it ALWAYS took HUGE chunks off. It is southern basswood. Should I try spraying it?

[Mitchell]

Keeping it wet may help.

Without seeing what you are trying to carve, it's a little difficult to say for sure. I would add that you need to make good stop cuts and keep your tools sharp. Don't force the chips out.

[Smokey]

I suspect that you have a piece of wood that was "wind checked" while still in the tree form. This happens when a tree is all of a sudden exposed to high winds, or can result from rough handling as the tree is felled. Imagine holding a handfull of soda straws( these represent the fibers of the wood), and if you bend this bunch to one side, you will see that some straws must slip beside others as a result of the bend. This seperation of wood fibers can run the entire length of a tree, as the fibers are torn and seperated. If the tree is allowed to grow after the damage it will mend itself, but trees are usually cut down after a windstorm. It is not always detectable in the log form, but certianly is when the sawyer tries to slab it. There isn't much you can do with the piece of wood unless you use a wood "stabilizer" as the damage involves every cell, in every fiber.

[mdallensr]

Basswood can get soft or "punky", particularly in the very center of the log. It carves more like cork, pulling and tearing, then breaking off. Look at the end of your piece to see if you're in the center of the growth rings. If the piece carves well a couple of inches out from the center, you've got a bad piece of wood and nothing is going to make it better.

[Big_Al]

One of the problems could be " southern basswood". The nickname for this wood is "Limewood" - for a reason. Try purchasing some "Northern' basswood and you will see a big difference in carving. I almost gave up carving years ago because of this same problem. I now only purchase wood grown from Minnesota north. Big Al