Anyone carve Podocarpus

The grounds guys were cutting down a Podocarpus tree at my school, so I got them to save me a 3' piece about 9-10" diameter. Has anyone carved this stuff before? I'm thinking I'll seal the ends and give it 6 months to dry?

I googled it, but didn't come up with anything related to carving. It seems to be a favorite for Bonzai producers. My rule is: cut it, stack it, & store it. If it still looks okay after a few months, it's good to carve. If not, it's good for firewood. I'm going to bump up a bunch of wood carving links that Rodeo & I put together a while back. Lots of good info on tree species - unfortunately, "Podocarpus" wasn't one of them. Good luck!

Aaron

I have carved it before and it is a Very Spectacular wood when finished. Hard wood will hold excellent detail and when spaulted. is Reddish Marble looking with polyurethane.

I have a few 6" to 8" logs that are ready to carve from Hurricane Jean back in'04/'05 season. Definitely get it and cure it. It will make great carvings.

Cool! Aaaron, Ben, thanks for the info. I'll keep it! Ben, I've heard the term Spaulting a co uple times on this forum. What is it?

Spaulting is the term used for the coloring that wood gets as it is drying out. Usually is is only greyish streaks running through the wood, but some woods develop a Beautiful coloring made up of reds, yellows, blues and greens all in various shades. You can never tell what the pattern will be. It happens when mold spores begin the deterioration process of the wood. the spaulting gets deeper and covers more of the wood as time goes on, until the piece of wood is no longer good. The Podocarpus posted above is a totally light tan wood. All the coloring you see there is from spaulting. This dolphin is ficus, normally a creamy white wood, but spaulting gives it these colors

Hope this answers your question.

On 2006-03-08 10:53, Benzart wrote:
Spaulting is the term used for the coloring that wood gets as it is drying out. Usually is is only greyish streaks running through the wood, but some woods develop a Beautiful coloring made up of reds, yellows, blues and greens all in various shades. You can never tell what the pattern will be. It happens when mold spores begin the deterioration process of the wood. the spaulting gets deeper and covers more of the wood as time goes on, until the piece of wood is no longer good. The Podocarpus posted above is a totally light tan wood. All the coloring you see there is from spaulting. This dolphin is ficus, normally a creamy white wood, but spaulting gives it these colors

Hope this answers your question.

What an amazing table, cool as hell!!! I would LOVE to see all your "non-tiki" stuff!

Here are a few of my earlier carvings from Years ago. Some tiki mixed in with Other stuff.
Old Pix Here

Wow! Ben the old pics are great! Thanks for the spaulting info... that was fascinating stuff! Can't wait to see it in this log!

Podocarpus? - I think they can clear that up with penicillin? :lol:

-Gman

Yes they can, but it's painful as hell.