Carving Pine

[sam_acw]

As a way of testing a couple of knives (grohmann canadian and a Mora) I've been trying my hand at spoon carving.
The only woods in town are predominately pine and this is what I picked up after the high winds a month ago. I'm tending to find that it splits very easily along the grain when I'm carving it and I was wondering if this is typical of pine or is typical of a lack of technique!
I think I'm going to make some sort of more simple spatula with the next bit as that should have fewer ins and outs and offer fewer chances for splitting.

 

[Longstrider]

Hi Sam, Yes, pine does have a tendency to split along the grain rather easily. Pine is classed as a "soft wood", which generally denotes that it has a fairly open and loose grain structure (As opposed to a "hard wood" that will be more dense and tighter grained)
If you can find a piece near a knot you might actually be able to use the way the grain curves to your advantage You should be able to carve a spoon from pine with a little practice, but using a slightly tighter grained wood to start with might be a little easier to get on with. Generally people complain about the tighter grained woods being harder to work because they are so dense rather than having problems with pine which is normally very easy to cut.

 

[sam_acw]

Thanks for that. I've managed a first with it though - I've made a feather stick which caught with a spark using the Canadian knife!

 

[johnnyneuro]

In it's natural habitat (up north) pine grows slowly and has a nice grain for carving. When it's grown as a crop or ornimentally further south, it just loves the sunny weather and grows very quickly giving a wide grain that isn't too good against a knife.

The moral - get your pine from Norway!