What's your favorite carving wood?

Well, how 'bout it?

A-A

not experienced enough for a fav, but cherry has some really nice natural colors going on in it!

I haven't carved a thing besides Mahogany for months, I really like it. Carves easy and has a beautiful grain and color. I went through a Walnut stage before it and will carve plenty more, another great wood. I like Cherry but find it much harder to carve than Mahogany and Walnut. I really enjoyed the Basswood carving I did but didn't enjoy the sanding after. I carved with Ash ages ago and really liked it, though about as hard as Cherry I think, the grain really pops out when finished though. My dream is to score a huge chunk of cured Mahogany like the size of a fridge and make the Tiki of a lifetime out of it. Let me know you see that piece of wood anywhere.

There's a fellow I know who imports Cherry wood from Vietnam (Charlie's in the cherrytree!) most of it's in the form of massive slab tables and chairs. It's kind of like those redwood burl pieces people make.

The wood is very pretty, and has a nice smooth form to it.

McDougall, he could 'probly get that frigidaire size piece for you (of Cherry or teak), but it would cost a bit. I think he has a can comming in Feb, and another in April.

[ Edited by: Gigantalope on 2004-11-05 08:28 ]

Yes, I would definately be interested in that wood, please pm or email me with any info, Mahalo!

Cherrys really nice to work with, so is lime. I've just been using some Horse Chestnut which is really flakey if thats the right word.

The kind from trees, just kidding. I have only carved pine so that is my favorite for now.

I've only used pine, but I remember seeing a duck that was carved from applewood and it was very pretty. The coolest piece I've every seen was a huge camel carved from a solid piece of wood imported from Morocco. I don't remember the name, but I know it's closely related to cedar and has that very wonderful cedar smell. The wood is very hard and has a gorgeous, swirly, tight grain that looks almost shimmery and three-dimensional. I will try to find out the name and pass it along. I would love to see a Benzart piece carved from it!

On 2004-11-05 08:21, McDougall wrote:
My dream is to score a huge chunk of cured Mahogany like the size of a fridge and make the Tiki of a lifetime out of it. Let me know you see that piece of wood anywhere.

McDougall - I've seen those huge 8-foot diameter logs of mahogany floating down the Amazon on giant river barges. Don't know how to get one to you, though. Maybe you could move to the jungles of Peru and set up a Tiki-lodge for tourists and do all the giant carving you want.

I like it Sabu, I like it alot!

McDougall
http://www.pacificbluetraders.com is his business website.

His name is Doug....nice bloke. He's in Indoneisa just now, but should be checking his mail periodically.

Tell him you are from the Tiki Website, he will be thrilled. He's thinking of going less asian and more tiki in his store.

We are planning a tiki event in April there (SiliKon-Tiki) if anybody out west wants a free vending space let me know.

Cheers

I gotta say pine also. It is softer and I think it splinters less than hardwoods.
I did just get some smaller logs from a tree I recently had to trim. Not sure what it is but will identify soon. Will see how carving that goes and if I like it, I might just cut the whole sucker down. TIMBERRRRR!!!!!

Wow, so many good ideas. I noticed that no one mentioned palm wood which is the only thing I've worked with so far. My first mexican fan palm was really dry & hard & had aged for awhile, so it carved pretty well. This second one (also mexican fan)more resembles a large piece of shredded wheat. Not sure how it will turn out.

I've got a couple of 6 foot ficus trunks on the way. They have Benzart's seal of approval, and he PM'd me a few pics of his carvings using that wood. All I can say is the grain looks really beautiful, and I'm looking forward to digging in soon.

Also have some Madrone on the way courtesy of Gigantalope. This is supposed to be good stuff as well.

I've heard lots of good things about white pine, but haven't pursued any yet.

A-A

Palm fo sho!

Palm is nice if it cured, and it also depends on the type of palm.

I have tried Ash, nice to carve hard as hell, and can be a pain to sand.

I actually like Poplar alot, you can carve any direction you want, sands easy, holds detail very well, soft, and very forgiving. of course the only real poplar i have seen is in board form or in a dowl/closet rod size. do'nt know how a actual poplar log would be to carve.

On 2004-11-05 11:04, finkdaddy wrote:
I've only used pine, but I remember seeing a duck that was carved from applewood and it was very pretty. The coolest piece I've every seen was a huge camel carved from a solid piece of wood imported from Morocco. I don't remember the name, but I know it's closely related to cedar and has that very wonderful cedar smell. The wood is very hard and has a gorgeous, swirly, tight grain that looks almost shimmery and three-dimensional. I will try to find out the name and pass it along. I would love to see a Benzart piece carved from it!

I found out what type of wood that is. It's called Thuya. It is far and away the most beutiful wood I've ever seen. I hope someone can find a piece for carving.

I saw the trunk of Valley Oak today along I-5 near a ford dealer in Red Bluff. (the tree had been cut and the largest piece left)

The piece was about 4 feet tall and at least 33 inches wide....just sitting there waiting for someone to free the tiki inside it.

Unfortunalty it wasn't the self loading oak I hoped it would be, so it's still there.

On the tpoic of palms, I have some plates made of Coconut palm, and they're really nice...much harder than I would have thought.

I don't think I can say I have a Favorite carving wood. I love Mahogany for it's ease of carving but it is not great for fine detail. I love Cherry and Maple for it's ability to hold very fine detail, but they are both very hard and difficult to carve. I love palms for big, fast tikis, but not for fine detail and also they usually contain a lot of silica which chews up your chisels. Redwood is beautiful and fast to carve but difficult to get fine detail with and sanding is very messy.
It depends on what you are going to carve as to what wood you choose and what you call your favorite.
I guess if I HAD to name a favorite it would be Mahogany for its beauty, reputation and ease of carving.
There...

Bump for the newer guys & gals... with an add...

On 2005-07-21 21:57, 8FT Tiki wrote:
UPDATE: Well after completing the first sycamore project which became the big green Pisco bottle dude, I can whole heartedly recommend this tree to you as a good carving wood.
It is very heavy but I like it because it doesn't splinter much and the cracking was not bad either. The grain is smooth and it is a very light color which would accept stains well. ...

My fav wood is a specail wood.... Free
"If it is free it is for me!"