gouge carving tupelo......

[susieq]

Not sure about where to put this thread.... Might have been better in the power carving section but if so, the moderators will move it.

As most of us know, tupelo is pretty much a wood for power carving. It does not lend itself to gouge carving very well. But I had a lot of wood to remove on a project and decided to clamp the piece of tupelo into one of my wood vices and have at it with a power gouge.... For roughing out tupelo, there is good news..... as long as you are going with the grain, it is just fine. I peeled away a bunch of wood much easier/faster than I would have with a kutzal or typhoon bit.

The problem is in going across grain or against the grain. This tends to fray the wood into layers and it looks very ragged. It just separates badly into layers. Not a problem until you get down to near where you want to be in the wood removal. Then you need to either go with the grain, only, or go back to a rotary bit of some kind. I'm not sure how deep the layers go, into the wood when it separates so go back to rotary before you get too close to where you want to be.....

[torpidhummer]

Susie,I have had the same problem roughing out tupelo,as you discovered one can rough out this wood with edge tools although hard on most hand used edge tools. When I carve across the grain I know I have to make my cuts in a slight angel until I gradually cut across the grain.However by cutting straight across the grain I go back to my power tools,I hope this helps you a little bit,I only use this method in my roughing out process where my band saw has difficulty in cutting small tight place. Oscar

[susieq]

Yes, this is strictly for roughing.... tupelo is still just a power carving wood, especially when detail or finish work is involved. But for removing a bunch of wood to start with, the power gouge was helpful