[justafurnaceman]

Hello folks. I'm currently serving a tour in Iraq and during downtime I enjoy whittling. I stumbled onto this site when I was looking for a new project. I'm excited to start to learn how to do some carving especially cariactures. I do need some help because all we have over here is pine lumber. I need to find a reliable online store where I could purchase quality Basswood and Pine, books, and some tools. Any suggestions would be helpful. I've tried googling it but so many sites come up it's hard to know which one to choose.

Thanks for your help. I've also enjoyed looking at the great things that people carve.

[AlArchie]

Welcome to the site, and a huge THANK YOU for your service to our country!

Try this link for tools and books and a few instructional pages....good people to work with.

Little Shavers Wood Carving Supply

Al

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

also the woodcraft store in Bettendorf Iowa...its on google...."Big Dog" has about everything as well

[Mottles]

Hello, and I too, would like to THANK YOU for your service to our country!
Little Shavers are wonderful folks to do business with I highly recommend them.
For wood I like Heinecke Wood Products I have ordered wood from them for over a year and have never had any problems. They have first rate basswood, which is a wonderful wood for carving whether just using a knife or adding chisels and gouges.
Kathy

[MelNM]

I agree with Mottles Heinecke are great to work with, as far as quality basswood you can't go wrong with them.

Thank's for protecting our country, most of all be careful.
Mel

[torpidhummer]

A Super thank you for all that you and the troops have done for us back home holding the fort. Heineki is you best and for book and tools Little Shavers are great. Both outfits helped me when I started carving. Semper Fi from a Brother Grunt. P.S. mention both providers that you are doing "GRUNT
WORK" in Iroq.
Oscar

[Just Carving]

A big thank you to all the troops over in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as around the world!

You mention about only having pine available to you. I carve with pine quite a bit. It can be a bugger sometimes. But if you are patient with it and make sure your tools are super sharp, you can end up with some interesting looking carvings becuase of the variation in the grain. I usually use a Ramelson 5/16" or 3/8" wide skew chisel for a bulk of the work and a bench knife for getting in tight corners or for carving where it's easier to use a knife than a chisel. Keep in mind I'm doing small pins that vary from 1 1/2" to 3" tall.

Ditto on using Heinecke for wood--and ask Dale about his butternut--it's great to carve! And call Rick and Terese at Little Shavers for tools--great guy to go to for advice and to get tools straightened out, i.e. sharpened. You can also use Flexcut tools--Flexcut.com--and you can purchase the tools on-line directly from the manufacturer. And there's quite a variety of tools to choose from for just about all the areas of wood carving. Groff & Groff Lumber--http://www.groffslumber.com/index.html--would be a good source of the various woods--and you can order by e-mail/phone and pay by credit card.

All the best to you,
Bob L

[justafurnaceman]

Thanks to everyone for their responses, they really helped. I'm excited to order my new supplies.

[Donna_T]

Hey Furnace Man,
Welcome to our website and thank you for taking time out of your working and personal life to serve our country. We're indebted to you.

Do you have access to a coping saw or bandsaw with which you can cut wood into workable cutouts? Do you know the difference between cutouts and roughouts and what each means to you as to how much extra wood you're going to have to remove to get to your project? Guess what I'm trying to ask is how much do you know about carving and how else can we help you?

I've carved some pine--both green and dry. If you have access to a little spray bottle, you can mix half water and 1/2 rubbing alcohol and spray it on "hard" wood and make it easier to carve. This works well with end grain, especially. I've also tossed my piece of pine (that's cutout to the general dimensions of what I want my carving to be) into a bucket of water to soak anywhere from an hour to overnight, just to make it easier to carve. Also if you have access to pallet wood over there, some of them are made of basswood. Most of us carvers have tried carving about any wood or material--golf balls, sweet potatoes, chalk,tagua nuts, etc.

All of the suppliers mentioned are great--I count on all of them for everything I need in carving supplies.

Let us know how, if any, we can help you.

Donna T

[chuckbolton]

furnace man maybe the harold enlow of the next generation. harold started carving in the service (army i think) but it may have been the civil war.