spongy basswood

[steve in houston]

Has anyone ever got spongy basswood? I got some in my last wood order. It was some stock I had them cut 1x1 for little guys and ornaments. It doesnt cut clean, it carves almost like balsa. When you cut straight in or like ski slope cut it crushes rather than cuts. My knife is sharp. Would putting it in the oven a while help? or is it what it is?
any thoughts?
Thanks SteveCowboy

[Just Carving]

If you're sure the tool is sharp--try another just to be sure--my guess is you have southern basswood. Northern basswood takes longer to grow and yields a better cutting wood. Try spraying a 50/50 mix of alcohol and water as you carve. Dave (hi_ho_sliver) uses this as well as Kenny I believe. You can wait and see what they say.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

I had a piece of that stuff a while back. Did just what you describe. To get around the problem spray the area you're carving with an alchol/water mix and make sure you "slice" across the grain instead of "pushing" the blade into the wood. Worked for me so well that now I'm sorry that I don't have any ofthat really soft stuff left. Boy...that stuff carved really fast!!

[slivers&dust]

Dumb question here…

Does the surrounding area that was sprayed…fuzz or raise the grain at all?…if it’s not to be cut or sanded again. Say if an area is done already, but gets some over spay on it, then needing sanding or re-cutting.

Hope that made sense.

[Kenny_S]

Yep, learned that from Hi Ho and as cheap as Alcohol is, put a sray bottle top on the bottle and spray 100%/ Think I paid 99 for a quart of it. Maybe less. beats spending it at Micky Ds for sure.HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE

[Kenny_S]

To answer your question S and D, I don't worry about it. Now I don't spray it all the time, Mostly when punky wood or end grain as I believe that spraying the end grain first then carving help to prolong the gouge sharp edge were just carving the end grain with out spraying helps in dulling the knife or gouge. But then, that stands to reason.
Just My politically UNcorrect opinion.

[slivers&dust]

okay gotta say I tried the 50/50 mix last night on the wolf headdress that I'm working on and do feel I was able to work the end grain a bit easier. It almost seemed softer and the tool sliced through in a more fluid cut with less tearing or chip out. No fuzz either when it dried.

Mobster Nice tip!

maybe I'll try the 100% tonight on the side that has given me fits.