Carving Sweet gum green.

[Mike-in-WV]

Sweet gum is one of my favorites because it carves like a dream , green or after it has dried for a year. It does get very hard and strong but still carves without chipping and smoothly. Carved wet it will fuzz a little but not bad.
These Sweet gum sticks were cut for wood spirit staffs (last Friday) and I carved one today and sealed it with Minwax Honey maple stain. Once the stain drys I will give it one more coat and then paint the spirit as always and seal the spirit and hand placement area with acrylic enamel.
After the stick dries for a few months I will trim the ends and seal the entire stick with several coats of clear enamel.
I can't seem to get pictures posted on here anymore so you'll have to go to my picture site to see what I'm talking about. Just look for two pictures called "greenspirits1 and 2". Mikehttp://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v8...gAnch=imgAnch2

[Bob_in_TN]

I like your wood spirits, they look good. Never carved sweet gum, but may be worth a try.

[Mike-in-WV]

Bob, If you try it I think you will really like it. It's really white when it's green and has a tan or off white tint when it's dry.It also really carves nicely. Mike

[Kenny_S]

Nice one Mike.
Another wood I will have to try.

[Mike-in-WV]

Thanks Kenny but he is far from being done. I made his beard longer and curved and it comes to a point. Also made the eyebrows with more hair detail and so on. Then it needs to be painted with a wash or tint on the paints. Mike

[dart]

Nice work. I am not familiar with that wood with leaves on it tho.

[Mike-in-WV]

Dart, I'm going to cut more this weekend and I'll take some pics of it for you. When you find sweet gum it grows in groves or clusters of many and then you can drive for miles and not see another. The leaves are star shaped and when there big they are a beautifully shaped shade tree. The limbs have many flat spots or wings some people call them. Mike

[Mike-in-WV]

Here are the pictures of the Sweetgum trees where I get my sticks. There is about 150 acres of them in this area alone.
You can see how deep and rough the bark is and the strange shape of the limbs. Not all of the limbs are like that but most are. They really grow to be a large tree and they grow very fast and straight.Mike
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v8...Carvings/?sc=3

[Kenny_S]

Looks like the Sweet Gum we have growing in people's yards. They have a spike like ball on them, but in no way the abundance like you have Mike

[Mike-in-WV]

Kenny, The coal mining companies own this and about 500 square miles of wilderness that is open to the public. When I asked them about cutting some small trees for wood carving they told me to take what I wanted but leave the real big one's.
The stuff that's about 2.5'' around on the top and taper down to about 1" about 5'.5" long makes great walking staffs and people love the bark. When dry it's really light but when you cut it this time of year it's full of water (Gum) and it's really heavy.It just takes a little longer to dry.
This stuff gets the spiny pods too and that's where the gum is. Mike