Favorite wood types?

[robertf1]

I learned alot from the responses to my last post "Relief carving challenge". My efforts to relief-carve a fly fishing dry fly were confounded by using mahogany. I found that its close grain made it very difficult to close-quarter incising without "busting through" to the next cut. Instead of achieving nice curled slivers of waste from my cuts, the mahogany left small chunks. All in all, I found this wood not to my liking. I would be interested in what you feel is the best wood for relief carving and well as in-the -round carving, which I woulds like to try soon. I have been using aspen and yellow pine, both of which have produced good results, though mastering their grain patterns is a challenge. I understand that both red and white oak, being close
grained, present the same difficulties as mahogany. Sometimes I like to try for more detail than I really should (that's how we learn) and would like a wood that is more forgiving. Cost is an issue, but not overriding. Should I stick with the aspen and pine, or try something new? Born to be wild! Bob

[Thor]

Hi Bob,
You are going to get a lot of suggestions for basswood, because it is the cousin to linden wood or limewood that many of the European master carvers used. The basswood in the US is close to it, but not exactly like it from what I understand. I order mine from Wisconsin, or buy southern basswood locally for my better carvings and I'm very satisfied with it. Tight, straight grain allows details, but it isn't as hard as a rock.
I do not like to carve yellow pine at all, and never will again, but the white pine sold as shelving boards from big box stores is one of my favorite woods to carve and build stuff with.

Oddly, mahogany is supposed to be one of the better carving woods, but maybe the pieces you have tried have been too dry from kiln drying or something.

I will carve just about anything that holds still long enough, along with a lot of other folks on this board. Cherry is another wood that gets wonderful results all the way to the finish, but I find it really hard....literally....hard.

One more addition....I really enjoyed carving the cedar stick that I just finished....just a wonderful wood to carve, and the finish turned it into something even better than I thought it would be.
just my 2 cents.
Christina

[gtech]

Butternut...

Not as hard or as dark as walnut, but very nice looking.

Gilles

[jmischel]

To echo Christina's sentiment: I'll carve pretty much anything that'll sit still long enough.

I've carved little things from 20 or 30 different types of wood in the last year or so. For ease of carving and ability to hold fine detail, basswood wins hands down. Other woods hold detail better, but they're more difficult to carve. Not that I mind so much: I'm not big on fine detail. All of my carving so far is in the round.

I don't know that I can single out any particular type of wood as my absolute favorite. I love mesquite for its color, although it can be a bit brittle and I doubt that it'd be good for detail work. I've had real good luck with the few pieces of fig that I've carved. It's relatively soft, and should hold detail. And the Bradford pear is absolutely wonderful stuff. Somewhat hard, but finishes up really nice and holds detail well. The kiln dried maple I've picked up from the discard bin at Woodcraft is great, too. I especially like the figuring in ambrosia maple. Black walnut is beautiful, but pretty doggone hard. Oh, and I've really enjoyed carving on the few sycamore branches I picked up.

Yeah, it'd be hard for me to pick a favorite. I just grab a hunk of wood and start making chips.

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

I like Butternut, easy to carve, beautiful grain when finished with oil.

Dave

[Josef]

I picked up a heap of Yellow Birch and I love carving that. Magnificent grain and colours, relatively easy on the equipment and keeps details nicely. Also, it does not split terribly while drying. I do only in the round stuff, but anything from large to miniature. Walnut is great looking but murder on eqipment and muscles.

[Goody]

A lot depends on what I am carving. I like paulownia for my Santas. Basswood for anything that needs fine detail. Butternut if its going to have a natural finish. I think Mahogany and Spanish cedar are the best for relief. Mahogany is like Campbells Soup there are so many varietys. If you get a piece that has a close straight grain its great. Get just the slightest bit of swirl in the grain save it for furniture. In relief carving the condition of your tools is very important. Some woods I carve for hours at a time before stroping. For Oaks Walnut Chestnut and Maple I have a seperate set of tools sharpened differently than my regular tools. When carving details in the open grain hardwoods I strop on every other cut. It takes longer and you have disipline yourself to strop but it really saves on the bad words and chipped out pieces in the carving. Plus it just feels a lot better going thru the wood.

Goody

[Hooked on Carving]

I've heard from fellow carvers, but never tried, that Spanish Cedar is a good wood for relief carving. I've seen work done in it and it looks awesome, keeping the natural wood!

[SeaLeveler]

It must be the mahogany you have because I like mahogany.Walnut is great too.Tony

[northwood bob]

I use a wood that will fit my requirements of the spsecific carving.
Basswood is nice in holding some detail, will not need to see any weather, can be stained or painted but the grain pattern leaves a bit ot be desired (that is why it is relatively easy to carve).

Butternut has the advantage in natural color and grain pettern. This is nice for a clear coat over the natural wood. I've found that it is a bit grainey but is nice to cut. This tends to chip if you take too much in a cut. I've also seen several pieces that change grain direction which makes the process a bit difficult. (I've found Mahogany similar to this altough the grain pattern is usually straight)

Walnut is probably my favorite in that it holds detail extremely well. The wood is medium hard but nice to cut. The color can be from mild to extremely patterned. Use care when choosing a piece. Ask any stock maker and he will swear by this. Mertyle Wood can be used in a similar manner with much the same atributes.

Cherry - Oh Yes (and Choke Cherry) is extremely hard but can be detailed very nicely. Just take your time and by all means don't push it. The end results are phenominal

Birch and Alder are nice to work with but carve much easier if cut and carved green. Straight grained and hard when dried.

Whenever this question is presented, more questions arise than answers - good luck

Bob
p.s. I would still like to see a photo of the partially finished dry fly