Mesquite Wood

[daveholte1]

I just moved to AZ and a giy gave me some Mesquite.
Is this a carving wood? Seems heavy and hard?

Any suggestions and or ideas?

Dave

[SlowMover]

I have never tried to carve it, but after having tried to cut it down...I can tell you it is about the harderst and toughest wood I have ever encountered, only Bodark (sp) runs close to it in my opinion as the hardest wood in the world. I guess if you have sharp enough mallet tools, and are an expert sharpener you can carve it. I do know that it is a beautiful wood when sanded and polished/oiled, as I have seen things like fly rod handles turned from it,,,really pretty. Let me know how it goes if you try to carve it.

[chuckbolton]

mesquite gets harder as it ages-- or that is my experience-- when i lived in AZ i used it for bar-b-que and know that it burns very hot and little ash remains- like walnut and osage orange (hedge or bodack). hedge was used as wagon axles and bows-- hence the real name bois de arc ( french for archers bow) it has a greenish tint when fresh cut and turns orange when it dries down -- probably why its called osage orange-- ( osage indians in the midwest and orange color

if i was in az today-- id try some dry mesquite-- the worse that can happen is that you find you cant carve it with hand tools or dont like it for some other reason--

ironwood is also hard as h**l and some great carvings come out of mexico using that wood--im told only hand tools are used by the traditional carvers-- but i bet some are using power tools today.

keep us posted onwhat you find out

[Steve Reed]

Remember, ANY wood can be carved, it just depends on how much effort you want to put into it. In my opinion only, power would be the way to go with mesquite. Be sure to use a respirator or at least a bust mask!
Steve

[Dull Knife]

Originally Posted by daveholte1

I just moved to AZ and a giy gave me some Mesquite.
Is this a carving wood? Seems heavy and hard?

Any suggestions and or ideas?

Dave

I still have some Mesquite from when we lived in New Mexico. I mainly used it for an accent piece on a cowboy carving.

[DiamondWillow]

Mesquite does not carve well with gouges and mallet. Especially if it is a burl but it does carve very nice with a rasp and or a Foredom with a Kutzall bit in it. Take a look at what Chris White does with Mesquite from Texas and also West Texas Juniper. I think you will be impressed if you haven't seen his work.

the wood sculpture and poetry of j christopher white

It is beautiful wood when polished up and well worth the effort. Chris White uses mostly burls from the mesquite.

Gene

[Gergie]

Cut it up in little chunks and add it to your hot coals when grilling. That's the best use I've found for mesquite.

As for carving, it's a pretty hard wood.

[Mike L Hasler]

I love mesquite, currently doing some work on mesquite ROOTS, harder still than the above ground stuff. I do try to Not do much carving with it, just detail work and some excess removal with an angle grinder. And Chris White's pieces almost make me want to find a new hobby. I have a few pieces on my web site. The only mesquite limb I've done was a siamesed piece that has the knots for the eyes and nostrials of "My Dog"

[daveholte1]

Thanks for all the great info Happy Carving