[whittling]

I love birch and swamp maple .

[vacation212]

Mahogany,Butternut,Black Walnut and Willow.
Sometimes I would for a change carve aromatic cedar.

[Fred Zavadil]

One of the best I carved was Honduras Mahogany, unfortunately, they cannot cut it anymore and it is almost impossible to get. It is was not too hard, not too much grain, and the colour is just beautiful. I tried different Mahogany (not sure where it came from) but it was just pain to carve - too much grain (and twisted in all directions), the colour was too dark.

Fred

[squbrigg]

I agree Fred, Honduran Mahogany is a pleasure to carve. The other has real challenges for sure, too hard too. The Honduran stuff had such great depth to it, and finishes so well. I use to do a lot of relief in it. Gone are the good old days. LOL

Bob

[carvnman40]

Tupelo for power carving and butternut, black walnut and white cedar for hand carving.
Mike

[hovinga]

I've been using cypress and pecon for power too and it works good for me pecon is real hard but turns out nice

[mikeGinSC]

Mtn Laurel, Holly, Rhodadendron, and sassafrass. Mostly cause they're Free, my favorite word

Mike G. in SC

[Dan Wegiel]

Black walnut, its very hard, but beautiful and I'm fortunate to have a bunch of it.

Dan

[Bobla76]

My son had some throne apple wood from a wind damaged tree. It was a mite hard but carved really nice. I can carve in nearly any direction without worrying much about grain. It's quite heavy, (dense), but will take great detail and has no fuzz. It finishes beautifully. Now I know why the old masters used so much apple wood.

[VAwoodcarver]

Originally Posted by mikeGinSC

Mtn Laurel, Holly, Rhodadendron, and sassafrass. Mostly cause they're Free, my favorite word

Mike G. in SC

Mtn Laurel is my favorite for little faces, but i've tried rhododendron but was disappointed didn't hold detail to my standards haha but your the first person to mention mtn laurel that i've heard, i thought i was alone with the laurel haha..