[squbrigg]

The assortment of woods that I work has been making me curious as to what others prefer. What is your favorite wood(s)? In what situations do you prefer to use it or others? How often do you mix woods and what kinds of trouble do you run into? I'm always looking for different ways of doing things and enjoyed my foray into cane whittling......just wondering! Lots of projects left to finish yet,....... but have even more ideas for the future!

Bob

[mdallensr]

This has been my year to learn more about wood for carving. I started with basswood, as most of us did, several years ago, then did some butternut and liked it a lot. I've done a little cherry and really liked the results, but it can be very tough to carve. I'm still not sure it was worth the effort. A few years ago, I started carving mahogany and really like the way it carves and the results. This year I finally started carving walnut, and was surprised to find it wasn't as tough as I expected. Easier than cherry, but gives the best results you could ever expect from butternut. I also carved cypress and jelutong (sp?) with mixed results because the quality of the wood varied greatly even within the same board. Cypress has beautiful grain and can yield good results if you have a solid, harder piece. The softer cypress tears worse than spalted, punky basswood. Last week I got into a piece of aspen and now know why some compare it to basswood; very easy to carve and good results. It may be less consistent in quality and character than basswood, but it has a little grain and color that adds interest. Most of my carvings aren't painted, so I care a lot about the natural appearance of the wood. If I painted everything, I'd probably stick with good, northern-grown basswood. It's amazing how easy it is to carve after wrestling with walnut.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I think free wood is the best!

[Kenny_S]

What dave said, and the cotton wood bark is free, just gas money to pick it up. Other than cottonwood bark, I like Basswood and butternut but I carved in Mahogany, walnut, black walnut , tupelo and some otthers. No favorite except the FREE.

[Ky_Whittler]

While I have to agree with the free wood part of this discussion, I like walnut. Basswood is great and so is bark. But nothing compares to a good piece of balck walnut for looks in unpainted work. Ash makes a good cane but is a real PIA to carve once it's cured well enough.

For green wood work I like maple best. It carves ok and cures out without splitting open on me.Sasafras works good green as well. Whittler

[rick-in-seattle]

Artic Banana wood; it is simply the best carving wood.

[squbrigg]

Rick.....ya , I've heard about that wood, great grain properties, color is perfect, almost carves itself....trouble is getting it! You have to get the monkeys and polar bears away from it first, and they are very protective! Of course , only growing above the tree line, it is hard to find, but worth the trip. I've heard that it never dulls your tools and you can carve it perfectly with a dull blade.

Geez.....and I though I was nuts! Arctic Banana Wood!!!

Good to see the old Rick back with us!

Bob

[rick-in-seattle]

That's right Bob, I'm feeling much better thank you.

Just for the new members, this is from an earlier post

Not familiar with the Artic Banana? It the best carving wood ever found, there is absolutely no grain direction; and the fine silica found in its fibers keeps your carving tools sharp. It never cracks during the drying process and the heartwood is the same color and consistancy as the sapwood.

While it is a rather short tree, it grows perfectly straight and can obtain diameters of up to six feet across at the base.

It's real value is the oil that is extracted from the fruit; it is said to be the finest lubricating oil ever discovered.

The problem is transporting it from the snow covered high Peruvian Andes where it grows about 1/4 mile above the treeline.

The only animal that can negotiate the steep icy mountain trails is the Alpaca (very similar to Llammas).

That is where the real problem arises, Alpacas are allergic to the oil and quickly loose their hair and freeze in the high mountains well above treeline.

The extreme value of the Artic Banana oil created the unique solution; the Peruvian woman collect the fallen hair from the Alpaca and spin it into yarn.
They then knit fine colorful coats for the Alpaca to wear on their trips up the mountains.

I have seen the coats myself and I tell you, some folks can really spin a fine yarn.

[Irish]

Rick,

I have not heard of Artic Banana before but having read the earlier postings concerning this wood I thought it might be fun to try ... that is until I read your posting! The thought that I might be responsible even in a very small way for some future archealogist discovering the corpus of a naked frozen alpaca 1/4 mile above the treeline in the Andes and then writing a scientic theory of the Ancient Sacrifices of Alpaca's in the Andes ... well, that's just a little to costly for me. Thank you for saving me from being part of the demise of some poor little Alpaca pack animal!

Susan

[Just Carving]

I think Bob and Rick conspired on this thread just to spin that yarn.

Nice piece of carving work!

Bob