[Glen Wofford]

I live in south Louisiana where toupelo gum is abundent. This is great for decoys and smaller objects, but, if I want to do someting like a drug store indian or relief craving for a mantle where would I find larger piecies of wood. I know white pine can be carved or maybe cypress, but you wouldn't carve an indian out of that.

[BobD]

Glen,

First, I just moved the thread to a more appropriately category


A lot of people carve basswood...but you may need to glue up some pieces to get one big enough for an indian....but don't worry, there are much more advanced carvers here you will have an opinion!

Bob
Wood Carving Illustrated

[AlArchie]

Large white pine is used around here for that type of carving and a lot of chainsaw carving. Unless you do a glue up, though, expect splitting. You can either live with the effect or cut and glue wedges of the same wood and glue them into the cracks, then re-carve to match the profile.

Al

[professorcrazy]

Walnut or butternut might be good, if you can locate big enough pieces of either. I've never carved butternut, but have seen carvings made of it, which look very nice, and would be lighter in color than the walnut, and probably somewhat softer and easier to carve.
"Ease of carving"--that's a whole different ball of wax. Almost any kind of wood (maybe not so much with a really soft wood like basswood) presents its own set of challenges and benefits, and often, two pieces of wood from the same tree will vary in hardness, density, grain direction, etc..
I love walnut when I can get a hold of some. The last piece I did from that wood was a representation of Michelangelo's Pieta, in the Vatican City, which I gave to my father-in-law this past Christmas. He's a Methodist minister--in fact, he married my wife and myself, baptized both our kids, and preached at my father's funeral--all of which is totally off of the subject.
You might try phoning any lumber mills that may be near you, and checking on the availability/prices of various woods--Good Luck!

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Try Don Wedll http://members.tripod.com/~woodsource/index.html or Nancy and some others swear by Dale heinecke 715 822 8642.....someone else on here sells wood too, but I just went blank!

[squbrigg]

Something that big.....wow, I'd use Walnut, Butternut or Mahogany, each would be a good carving wood and finish up nice. You could use Pine or Basswood to practice on, but they don't finish as nice, or offer depth in the finish, unless you plan on painting it. Checking/cracking will occur unless you use smaller boards dried and glued up, or you have a whole log aged already.

Bob

[Lightningbolt]

When choosing wood for a carving project my choice is usually 98 percent controlled by whatever wood is available then making the best of it. I felt very fortunate about five years ago when the local small town visitors center announced that the 185 year old basswood tree in the front lawn had become infected and thus condemned. Likewise they decided to let the tree live on and donated huge chunks and logs from the beast to local artists' and school woodshop programs. Normally I could never pay for such a premium carving wood but this time I really lucked out!

For carving a large project I usually set my sights on pine or poplar logs simply because that is what's available in my area at little or no cost. In the early 1990's I was commissioned by a boys camp to carve three 14 foot totem poles and I used loblolly pine which have amazingly held up to the elements after all those years due to good yearly maintenance. Although it has a tendency for splitting (adds character!) I have successfully used poplar logs on some larger projects, but they must be seasoned good.

90 percent of my carving is walking sticks and my favorite wood is sourwood however I also use with great success red maple, mountain laurel, and dogwood.

As previously mentioned I'm usually bound by whatever I can get my hands upon and find a way to make it work while I'm waiting for that next huge basswood tree to be condemned!!!

[macktruck]

Over there in LA you should be able to find a sawmill that does cypress and you can do a glue up to the size you need good luck
macktruck

[wade clark]

Glen,
There are thousands of trees downed by Katrina and most of them would be good to carve. Some are far harder than others, but oaks, pecans and all the rest are great woods. Find some big blocks, seal the end grain and set them aside for future carving. Don't let this abundant resource get away if you can help it!
If you can get large logs now, let them dry slowly and cut out blocks later from the areas that didn't crack. Pretty soon you'll have more wood than you know what to do with if you harvest all you can now.
Good luck! Have fun!
Wade

[Kenny_S]

Seen some rather large carvings out of Cypress. Wouldn't discount cypress for large carvings.