[James A]

What other types of wood are there to carve easily besides basswood and white pine? Where can you get wood to carve as well? The only wood I have carved so far is basswood, white pine, and balsa (never buying this wood again). Basswood is great for me, but I was wondering what else was out there.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Most carvers stick with Basswood as it's grain structure is very close and it's fairly soft. Sugar pine is nice but the grain is more evident. Aspen is also nice but you won't find much of that around where you live. Stay with basswood and make sure you get it from far up north and from a good supplier. Heinike is the best out there.....here's the link:
http://heineckewood.com/index.htm

[James A]

Thanks.
I will check to see what they have.

[Mitchell]

Butternut is good too.

James, it would be better to settle down a bit and find what you are interested in first and THEN ask questions. Too many general questions will get you headed into too many different directions and will not really serve to make you a better carver - just more confused.

[James A]

Is walnut a good wood for carving?

[squbrigg]

Walnuts good, Mahogany is great, Butternut is super, Pine is okay ....... you can carve most woods, some are just harder to work than others.

If you power carve, you can open up a whole new set of options, and carve the hard stuff. The exotic African, South American or Asian hardwoods.

If you carve just by hand, stick with Basswood, Mahogany or Butternut.

Walnut, Cherry, Oak, Maple, Birch, Beech, Poplar, Ash, Holly, etc, you can carve using a mallet and gouges.

Bob

[xsailer]

James,
Mitchell is right when he says to settle down. Very good advice. I, as probably most carvers, when introduced to carving was as eager to know it all at once. Impossible. I (We) had all of the questions you are asking and more. If you were asking for advice now, I would advise you to get familiar with this message forum, as you are doing. Use the "Search" function as much as you have time. I'm sure, over the last two years, I've read almost all of the pertinent "Threads" and "s" I'm interested in, some several times. They are, in my estimation, the most important pieces of carving information available in one place. Some of the most knowledgeable carving folks in the world are on this forum and all of their input is within the "Search" file. I often find the answers still, to questions I have within the forum files.
Stick with James, there's a lot to learn. It's a wonderful art form.

[James A]

What can I say. I just have many questions I have been wanting to ask.

[James A]

I have a question that I just thought of. I know that Heinike is a good place to get wood through other threads, but is the quality of the wood contained in Wood Craft's grab box good enuff to carve? My parent got their grab box before Christmas, and the wood was fairly good. I was thinking that I could get it again and cut the peices to size. However, if the quality is a lot worse that Heinike, than I was thinking that I should get their wood. I am thinking that I can get the grab box cheaper with fairly same quality. Is my assumption currect?

[Mitchell]

The grab box is good. I'd use Heinike for specific needs and use the wood from Woodcraft for "general" purposes. There shouldn't be anything wrong with it.

To answer your question - yes.