Carving kauri wood

[darnley]

Has anyone hand carved kauri wood? I just started reading about it. It sounds interesting, although a bit expensive and was wondering if anyone has had any experience with it.

[toycarver]

It's pretty hard. I carved a small figure out of it, using hand tools. I only did one small piece and am happy to have it, just to know the wood is so ancient makes it special. You should give it a try.

[darnley]

Thanks! I think I'll give it a try.

[Tom Ellis]

Darnley, I have carved one little caricature out of Kauri, thought it would be cool to have a 45,000 year old man. It is rather hard, and it is sort of like your blade wants to stick in it with a stop cut. Good luck,

Tom

[Woodyrock]

Before coming here from New Zealand, I carved quite a bit of Kauri on boats I worked on. This was all new material, not swamp wood. It carves very similar to basswood, but is somewhat harder. By similar, I refer to the very slight difference between summer, and winter wood. Some of the Kauri I carved was material from demolition jobs.
Woody