[pineknot]

hi folks
im new to carving also. i have a question about wood. here in florida i have access to cypress wood, some small cedar and juniper, cypress knees, and drift wood. are those ok to start with or do i need to order something from somewhere.
thanks a million, pineknot

[GeorgiaCarver]

Hi, welcome to the forum and to carving!

I love carving cypress knees. The wood is soft and pithy which means you need really, really sharp knives and chisels.

Cedar is good but a very hard wood. Drift wood is a lot of fun and can be good to carve, all depends on what type of wood it is.

Another good option is to buy basswood for carving. I would recommend buying it from Heinekee link attached... I buy all my basswood from them, it is clearly the best wood available.
http://www.heineckewood.com/

Hope this helps a little

[Donna_T]

Welcome to our carving home-away-from-home,
I just want to add a comment. Driftwood and other "found" wood can be fun to carve--giving you all kinds of shapes and woods. However, it can have grains of sand imbedded in the wood which can dull your carving tools.

Cypress knees can be great fun to carve and they make good wood spirits and wizzards and santas. They also work pretty well for some native American kinds of carvings. Carole Jean Boyd has a good book out on carving cypress knees.

Donna T

[pineknot]

thanks folks for the reply to my question, it was very helpful. i can already see what a great benefit this is going to be. another question, where can i order a book on carving large shorebirds like cranes and herons.
thanks in advance
ron