Favorite wood

[Robson Valley]

Simple answer is no. Narrow growth rings (tight grain?) signify uniformity in tree growth over long periods of time. Adirondack spruce is an example. Here, Englemann spruce growing on the north sides of mountains in ravines is highly prized by luthiers for "tone wood", the consistency of growth, thus the mechanical properties is all they ask. National, Martin, old Goya and Yamaha come here to talk to the "tree prospectors." Maybe 2,000 m^3 tone wood per year harvested here.

Maybe soft, maybe harder but you can count on consistency. Inherently, the conifers, the softwoods are supposed to be easier to carve than the hardwoods. Bull.
Would you like to spend a day at my house bashing on rainbow western red cedar? Then we can discuss it. One inch is like cheese, the next is like bone.

[dereks]

Someone gave me a chunk of cherry, but it is two pieces laminated together. Anyone have experience carving laminated wood? Does it work well? If so, it'd open up more possibilities.

[Robson Valley]

Does the grain run the same direction in both?
Look at my Fish Dish (WIP). That was two pieces of wood with the sapwoods glued face-to-face for the white ribbon down the middle. You'd never know it was there.

[Sharon of the Dell]

I learned how to carve using old growth coastal redwood as a young girl. like 12 growth rings to the inch or more! Nice stuff and very rare!

My favorite woods to carve, power or hand tools is hardwoods, the harder the better!
I recently traded some redwood burl for different types of "back east" native hardwoods from a fellow- back east.

Some of it is Osage orange. I started a leafy spoon last night with my large cheap Chinese mastercarver hand tools. I love the stuff and it seems like the tools were forged to go through it! And what pretty wood! Can hardly wait to get it done!

[dereks]

I've been carving a chess set out of Ash and Maple (I think). Its been a long process. I've loved every minute of it, but I'm looking forward to having it done so I can move on to new projects. so much to carve, so little time.

[jmischel]

Sharon: I've carved four of those "comfort birds" from Osage orange in the last week or so. It's beautiful stuff. Hard as all get-out, but easily workable with the Foredom. I still love the mesquite, but I do very much like working with the Osage orange. It grows around here, so when I exhaust my meager supply, I might have to go wood hunting . . .

[Sharon of the Dell]

Originally Posted by jmischel

Sharon: I've carved four of those "comfort birds" from Osage orange in the last week or so. It's beautiful stuff. Hard as all get-out, but easily workable with the Foredom. I still love the mesquite, but I do very much like working with the Osage orange. It grows around here, so when I exhaust my meager supply, I might have to go wood hunting . . .

I can hardly wait to try the mesquite you sent me. Not sure what to do with it yet, but it will come to me. I'm sure I will love it!

[davidinsarasota]

Like a lot of folks, I'm sure, I use mesquite to smoke food on the grill. I am very surprised to hear that it is carveable, even with power. The chips actually 'clink' when they fall on the cement.

[jmischel]

David: Not only is it carveable, it's beautiful. I've carved plenty of it with just a knife and some gouges, and I'm really getting to love working it with power. Some examples:

Mesquite Spoon

Another mesquite spoon:


Mesquite stirring utensil



Paco

I also posted a small stylized bird (done with power) in the Found Wood carving topic.

Hard? Somewhat. But well worth the effort.