Does anyone have any experience carving Paulonia wood? I have a small log given to me by a friend. It is very light and according to my friend, very strong. I don't know anything about it myself.

Jerry From Hartwell, GA

This ain't much, but here's what I know about Paulownia:
- It's a native Chinese tree
- It's in the catalpa family.

That's the sum of my knowledge. Now for the guessing part: Being as how it's a relative of catalpa, it should be a little harder than basswood (but not much), and should carve fine.

I haven't tried carving it yet. It is a extremely fast growing tree... I have one in my back yard that I have cut to the ground several times and it keeps coming back! I cut it to the ground in January and it is nearly touching some power lines over it now!! Since you are in Georgia you can find it growing along the roadside out in the country.. you can tell what it is by the very large leaves, elephant ear sized !
GaFred , Winder Ga.

[Paul_Guraedy]

Paulwonia wood is very soft and is not good for fine details. As noted, it grows rapidly. A friend is raising some commercially. He cuts them back each year until the bole of the tree grows to 15' or better in one year. Then they are allowed to fill out and make a harvestable tree. I have several of the 'cutback' logs he gave me, but do not like it as a carving wood. But I carve mainly birds. It would probably be satisfactory for other types of carving.

Paul Guraedy
Alpena, ARkansas