Is this wood Carvable?

[jillsy]

Oh Lord, I promised Ted's uncle that I'd carve some Chestnut for him. Well, it just arrived in the mail and I'm not so sure. They're only about 8 inches long and an inch or so thick so that's not the problem. The problem is all the holes! Someone had forewarned me about worm holes in my last post asking about Chestnut, now I see why.

Is it still possible to carve it? It's also extremely rough-hewn wood, which I'm not used to working with and it looks like there may even be some cracks. I HATE to let them down so I'll try anyway, but I thought maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up?

What do you think?

[BobD]

It depends on what you're carving.

The chestnut I've carved is about as hard as walnut or butternut. I can see a cool design where you use a natural finish and either mix sawdust with glue to fill the holes or even some other sort of contrasting wood filler material...

Bob

[jillsy]

OK, I'll give it a try. By the way Bob, can you delete the second post? I posted it twice like a moron.

[mobjack68]

Usually WC (wormy chestnut) is extremely dry, therefore somewhat brittle. It will tend to chip and if it starts splitting....do a stop cut, QUICK...
Yields well under sharp knife, balls up a little with a duller blade, don't worry, it will let you know..The wood almost takes on a "polish" behind the blade, make a couple of small cuts, you'll see the sheen after the chip falls, kinda neat.
if you use an oil finish (something that penetrates) the area immediately around the worm holes will darken, makes a neat effect but it can be unwanted....carved a bird out of WC once, wormholes in the head made it look like the poor guy had about 6 eyes...Neat stuff, has a unique character...post pics when you are finished??

[jillsy]

Thanks Mobjack,

I'd love to post pics when I'm done. I took some before shots purposely so you'll see what I have to work with. I can carve anything I want. From the sounds of it, I'd be better off not carving anything too detailed, especially if the wood is brittle and filled with holes.

I haven't carved in months due to swelling wrists and hands. I'm totally willing to give it another try though; once you've carved, it's hard to let go!