Sorry to post twice(other post in woodworking) jsut wasn't sure where to put this. I am carving a statue for christmas. It is of similar shape to a swan, but smooth with no feathers.

the size is 500 by 100-300(mm) and i would like a colour similar to the shells of hazlenuts. the wood ought to be hard. I have rarely used wood other than pine but would relish a challenge. Any wood advice you could give would be usefull

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[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I would suggest basswood....

Mulburry,
a beautiful wood, but i doubt you could fall & dry a chunk by christmas,
its just not a wood thats on hand just anywhere,,, and it has beautiful grain, and some what different color, its the color of a blond childs hair in the sun when you first cut it. Im told butternut color?
but from oxidation i guess it darkens, to a hazle nut color after time.
only oil finish needed. boiled linseed is what i used.

i re did a lot of my socketed chizzle handles with the mullburry, its a fairly hard wood, bout like birch, but not hard as locus or ironwood..
it should prove a hard wood to find.

If I read your post correctly; you want a reasonably hard wood, hazlenut in colour, to do a stylized carving. Of the readilly available woods think either Walnut or Butternut would be good choices. Walnut is the harder of the two and a little darker (sometimes) that hazlenut shells while Butternut is the softer of the two and little lighter than hazlenut shells. Both make nice stylized carvings.

[squbrigg]

I would agree with Butternut or Walnut. Should be good choices and not too hard to obtain, or too expensive.

Good luck with it.

Bob

Thank you all so much. I will be using butternut. I have obtained a reasonable sized block of unfinished butternut and will begin carving immediatley. gratefully, almost a complete beginner