[Paul_Guraedy]

Diana and I are building a new home here on the ranch. It is turning out to be somewhere between a farmhouse and lodge in motif. There are no blueprints, just a floor plan and elevation drawing that the contractor is using. The outside will be cedar "half round" siding with a tin roof. Inside will be painted (very light green) board and batten walls with a resawn pine unpainted ceiling and stone looking (light colored) ceramic tile floor. The front of the house will be a kitchen/dining/living room with two large beams which more or less divide this area into three sections. We found some oak, black walnut and cedar boards, cut by Diana's Dad many years ago, in an old building. The cedar will be used for door and window frames inside the house. Kitchen cabinets will be black walnut with oak doors and then more black walnut making a "Z" pattern on the door. A real mixture of woods which leads me to my problem and request for suggestions.

Originally, the beams were to be logs cut from the ranch; but, the idea of two people (me being one) trying to get them into place on an 8 foot wall, led to the idea of "faking" them. We have them framed and in place. Each measures 12 inches wide, 16 inches high and 20 feet long. They were going to be clad in a board on each side mitered to appear as a solid beam. Now, we are planning to mimic the kitchen cabinets. After lifting even these "fakes" into place we came up with an idea to assist with the weight/two man builder situation. We plan to put metal bands around the middle attaching to another beam going up to the ceiling (5 feet) making it appear that the beam is helping to hold up the roof. We are planning on using black walnut to create 3 inch strips at the top and bottom of each side and to "bridge" the gap with a board (10 inches wide and 9.5 feet long) for me to carve. We will mimic the "carving board" on the bottom of the large beam and the sides of the upright beam; but, I will leave these plain and not carve them. It will appear that the "carving board" has been attached to a solid beam.

Finally, to the point of this thread, I really have no idea about what wood I should use for the "carving board". Since it will be a relief carving (any suggestions here?, that's a long area and I have 8 of them), we want a wood which looks good of itself and contrasts with the black walnut, but carves well. I use power and hand tools in all of my carvings (more hand than power with reliefs). But, I am primarily a bird carver and have carved less than 10 relief pieces so any help with wood or carving ideas would be greatly appreciated.

One piece of advice that I can give anyone contemplating something like this: it takes a lot of advil to build a house.

[AlArchie]

Paul, I won't even try to offer advice on this one......just stand in awe of your dream and ambition! Advil, huh? Had never thought of that as a building material.

Al

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

My first thought was butternut, it being "light walnut" and a really nice complimentary color to the walnut, but then I thought, good old basswood, best carving and a real contrast to the walnut........kinda glad its your decision LOL

[wade clark]

Paul,
You might consider cedar. It's light, soft, aromatic, somewhat light in color compared to walnut, readily available kiln dried from lots of sourses.
Cypress would be great too. It has all the above charactoristics and is lighter in color. Big River Cypress sells beautiful wide kiln dried orders very reasonably priced. They're here in FL. I'll bet you can find cedar locally.
Have you checked with local small saw mills? Pecan would be nice! You might be able to special order a dozen species of trees...magnolia! Wouldn't that be great!!!
Good luck!
Wade
Wade

[Ron D]

i cant help much either.but tyenol 3 with codien work good to.i been taking them for my back and if you take two you could probably carry the beam up there when your flying away lol