Whats the best wood

[wacky1]

Hi everyone! Whats the best wood for relief carving.
Have a good size of mahogany about 3 thick and 5 feet long and some basswood.
Have used yellow cedar for my eagle on wings.
Still deciding was to what to finish it in.
Also whats a good site for patterns for relief.
Canadian artists and art resource directory. Visual arts from a Canadian perspective - Artists In Canada.

[Orygoner]

Since you're from Alberta, why not get hold of some White Birch. Bill Judt is a carver of considerable note from Saskatchewan. I have a book of his on relief carving and most of the carvings show were done on White (Paper) Birch. I've not used it although I have some in the barn now. I have used Aspen quite a bit though and you should have no trouble finding that in your neck of the woods either. I'm sure the basswood and mahogany will do just fine too. I'm not sure there is one, best wood really.

[SeaLeveler]

I really enjoy black walnut and mahogany.I've tried tueoplo and can't get the hang of it with chisels but works ok with power tools.Eastern red cedar is fair only with some hard spots.Never tried basswood.Tony

[Mottles]

My favorite wood for relief carving is 'Basswood.' It has a fine grain and doesn't splinter much and you can use hand tools with it.
Kathy

[Irish]

Excellent question, Willow Lady!

I think that answer depends on three variables ... how is the carving going to be used, how is it going to be finished and how much detailing you want to add.

Before I go to far here tupelo is most often used as a modeling wood because of it's soft qualities. Plus it has sap lines (sap channels?) that run through out the grain that leaves small open holes just anywhere. It's fun to play with if you have an extremely fine sharpened tool at a very thin bevel to the edge ... 12 degrees.

For fine detailing you might want basswood or butternut. Both stand up to very thin cuts and v-gouge work. But ... neither have much character in their grains. Either wood color up wonderfully with acrylics, oils, stains or colored pencils.

For designs that do not require a lot of detailing I might go with a cedar, mahogany or even sugar pine. All of these have nice grain but tend to be a touch brittle. They can split out with fine detailing.

Ash and birch are fantastic for large architectural work ... but you might need to use a mallet or router. Let's add soft maple and black walnut to this group.

So, for me, the wood species is pre-determined by the style, use and finishing.

Susan

[Ashbys]

The one I have in front of me .

[Irish]

Aaaassshhhhhhbbbyyyyyy! Which one?

Are you hoarding all the tupelo???? And if so which hoop do I need to jump through to weasel a piece from you ????? How low do I need to grovel ?????

Susan

[mark yundt]

I believe his reply is an answer to the question " what wood is the best" ,,,and that's the one in front of him.
If you're finding tupelo with "sap channels" ,,,I'd toss it in the fire. You shouldn't find so much as a pin hole in this stuff. The quality of the wood depends on not only the physical location of the harvest..but where on the tree you actually get the wood. As far as modeling goes,,pretty much every piece at the Worlds is done in Tupelo. It'll hold detail like no other wood..but it doesn't respond to a knife or chisel at all. It takes power exceedingly well.
I do quite a bit of Architectural work and for large pieces I'd have a hard time ever
recommending Ash. For me ,,that would be a last choice unless the job calls for it. In Europe many pieces are done in Oak..I've carved it and their Oak isn't like ours. Neither is their "basswood". Birch isn't that bad,,and I've done significant pieces in Cherry ,,but here too It wouldn't be a first choice.
I've done some very large work in Redwood,,a 9 ft scrolled bracket..worked well since it was outside.
Cherry,to some extent Birch, Mahogany will hold excellent detail,,I can push Walnut pretty far as well.And surprisingly I've done some pretty small detailed carvings in pine. Wasn't a first choice for what was needed,,but I pulled out the smallest detailed brackets with leaves on them.
But if you have Mahogany,,one of my favorites,,use that as it is,,,right in front of you.

[starvincarvin]

I prefer any hardwood species as it shows more detail, than softwoods do.

[vacation212]

I like to use bass wood and also black walnut,I have used obeche but it does not hold the detail as well as basswood or walnut. Willow is also fairly good.