need advise about the types of wood

[hope]

hello i' m a new member, i need your help i m a beginner woodcraving. i know few thing about it.
i need your advise please

does mango tree can be used for beginner woodcraving?


thank you

[jmischel]

Mango is a beautiful wood. You can carve it, but it's pretty hard. It's three or four times harder than basswood. If you're a beginner, you're going to find it somewhat frustrating. You'll need very sharp tools and you need to take small cuts.

You might find it more rewarding to learn a bit about carving first, by starting with basswood and moving up to harder woods as you gain more experience with carving and with keeping your tools sharp. Put the mango away for a while so that when you feel comfortable with your tools you can do that beautiful wood justice.

Here are some examples of carvings done with mango: mango wood carving pictures - Google Search

[LBlake]

I don't know what mango wood is like, but as a rule, fruit and nut woods are generally pretty good for carving. Most, though, are quite a lot harder than basswood or butternut. That doesn't mean they are bad for carving - just means you have to have sharp tools, take shallow cuts, and it just takes a bit more work. They are often a lot prettier than basswood or butternut, too.
On the other hand, do they have limewood in your country? That is a lot like basswood. Do they have mahogany? Mahogany is sometimes a bit stringy, but can still be quite nice to carve. Again, sharp tools help.
Good luck!

[hope]

Thank LBlake for your help
in my country i can find oak wood this can be used?
i can't find other types.

[hope]

Thank jim for your advise but in my country i can find only oak wood or mango tree.

[jmischel]

One of our members, named Dileon, lives in Hawaii and has done several carvings from mango. For examples, see Wet Mango and http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/forum/f69/wood-spirit-mango-37889/. You might contact her to see if she has any recommendations about carving this type of wood.

Also, where do you live? It might be possible to find other types of wood.

[Josef]

G'day and welcome to the forum. I have no experience with mango tree but, it would greatly depend on what type of carving you wish to do before anyone could really answer that. Someone may have used it before, and I carve most anything once to try it out. Good luck, Joe.

[Sharon of the Dell]

Hi Hope!
I started back into carving as an adult using mainly hard woods.
As was stated keep your tools really sharp and if you can clamp your work some how so you don't have to hold it with your hands. I've cut and stabbed myself pretty bad a few times.
If you have to hold the wood with your hand, get into the habit of keeping your hands behind the tool and wear a carving glove, which won't prevent puncture wounds but usually prevents sliced skin.
If you have a rotary tool such as a dremel or a flexable shaft unit, they are perfect for really hard wood. plus you can always go back and use hand tools for finer detail if you want.

[hope]

Thamks all for the advises )

[carver33]

From what I can see, Mango would be a good wood to carve, though somewhat harder than the Basswood that most carvers prefer. My very first carvings were in Apple, and that's one of the hardest woods that I've carved - I now love to carve Cherry - another hard wood. As has been pointed out, you will need to learn what sharp is and how to maintain sharp tools in order to carve harder woods without becoming too frustrated.

As for Oak, I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner due to the uneven hardness and stringy nature of the grain, but you still might want to give it a try, after all, many master carvers have carved some amazing sculptures in it.