[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

ah ha Charlotte, I heard that! take the hardwood and soak it and remember, your carvings don't have to be all one piece! you can make the basic body of a santa and carve him out of the harder wood and user the better stuff for the detail parts you add on (I am picturing a santa body, robe to the floor, arms to side, hands can be added also the head and whatever else, but the body and robe is basic even with hard wood)....lots of ways to skin a cat! you threw it in the trash...."oh oh Elizabeth, its the big one!" lol ..by the way, I got some butternut from Hugh that was great! don't know if he has anymore or can get it, but you can ask!

[Claude]

Originally Posted by santagibbs

... This was a small raccoon that I was trying to carve and didn't have a pattern so I was trying to eyeball it and it being hard and trying to hold it just got to frustrating to me.. ... Charlotte

Charlotte - when you want to carve a small piece, like a raccoon head, or a Santa hand, carve it on the end of a 4 or 5 inch long stick of basswood so you'll have something to old on to as you carve. When it's carved, cut the object off the stick with your coping saw or band saw (if you can safely) and glue it into the rest of the carving. Like the way Lynn does heads separately from the bodies.

Claude

[blanchard65]

Originally Posted by santagibbs

I am about to throw up my hands to carving!
I order roughouts and the wood on some them are so hard and I just don't want to go to the trouble sending them back.. That company has now changed owners.. I would like to order a few things but am afraid theywill be hard as a rock.. I got some John Nelson's roughouts and the wood was so nice and soft that it was sheer pleasure to carve that Santa.. I order some long blocks from Dick Blick two x threes etc. and they were hard in parts of it and you could even see the grain in it.. I know my knives are sharp as the Jon Nelson wouldn't haved carved so well if they were dull.. I have chunked two little snowman and a baby racoon last night and am so very frustrated. I almost feel like quitting . Does anyone know where there is some nice soft basswood.. ? Thanks for telling me. Charlotte

thats why I love this site. I was looking into bowl carving and found this site and I have spent hours on it since I started. I want to start carariture carving but still checking for right knives and wood. If I start with bad on either one I my get fustarded and quit. I would love to take a piece of wood while I am camping and at the end of 2 weeks have something that I am proud of that I am not afraid to show the people camping around me that I am a duffer. So any help will be helpful

[linden lure]

Linwood Products of Portage La prairie Manitoba Canada has some of the nicest wood clean white and can be cut with a exacto knife. If interested I can forward his address to you. The wood is harvested by the owner and dried in a air kelm with moisture levels down to 8%.

I use this for carving fish hooks and I just use a 3$ exacto knife.