A quick question about Pine.

[~Dan~]

hi, ive just started to getting in to carving wood qand i really enjoy it, unfortinatly being a city dweller means wood is hard to come by. there are some timber merchants but i dont really want to spend a lot of money at the moment as im still learning. i can get my hands on a lot of pine though but ive heard it splits a lot, if you have tryed carving it before can i have your opinions on it please as what its like to carve,

Many thanks

 

[bushwacker bob]

Pine and most other softwoods are readily split along the grain.This is because the timber grows relatively quickly and has widely spaced growth rings.Its usually kiln dried which adds to the problem.If you live in a city contact the local parks department or tree officer at the local council as they are forever chopping overhanging branches from species of trees that are quite often,rare and exotic.There are often a greater variety of trees in a city than in rural areas.
Pine carves very well if well seasoned but can contain a lot of resin which cloggs tools.
You have been here a fair while to only have 13 posts!

 

[jojo]

I entirely agree with Bushwacker Bob. It is possible to carve pine, but you need to keep your tools very sharp, even sharper than with "hardwoods", because the fibres in "softwood" do crush much more easily. Use a slicing motion when cutting rather than pushing the blades straight in. Keep a eye on skips for example, you can sometimes find some good carving woods in there. If you take into account the cost of the tools, the prices for some good bits of quality carving wood is not so bad, and you would be less likely to be discouraged than using low quality wood such as the stuff in most DIY shops,

 

[~Dan~]

the search button is a great tool to minimise ones posts and can often lead to a quicker answer.

thanks guys for you time and knowledge im going to get some pine and let it season as well and taking the rest of your advice into acount and start searching the skips and contact the council.

Dan,

 

[Matt Weir]

An empty can rattles the most

 

[xylaria]

An empty can rattles the most [/QUOTE


I like that one, says the chick with nearly three hundred posts in six months

Careful skip delving, I have heard of people been proscuted for theft for recycling without permission from skips. Wombling from fly tip sites is legal though.

I had a go at carving some windfall Yew I found. Beautiful wood. I am rubbish at carving but the wood was beautiful.

 

[~Dan~]

ok thanks for that xylaria ill dig out the DPM before i go skip delving

 

[jojo]

Quote: Careful skip delving, I have heard of people been proscuted for theft for recycling without permission from skips. Wombling from fly tip sites is legal though.

People have been procecuted ? I have not heard that one before. But I suppose, thinking of it, that everything get recycled.. But what do they do with the wood etc? I can't see that being recycled, exept as firewood???

 

[rich59]

I do a very limited and specific carving of pine. That is when I am making a hearth board for friction fire. When the atmosphere is good and dry it is almost a different wood to when the whether is cool and damp. When dry it is quite hard and the fibres don't crush. But when damp they easily crush. So maybe for your carving make sure it has been stored dry?

I'm not sure where this discussion about posting frequency is going! One post a year is more than a lot of members of this forum achieve. Well done ~Dan~. All welcome.

 

[~Dan~]

thanks rich

 

[brancho]

An empty can rattles the most [/QUOTE

Careful skip delving, I have heard of people been proscuted for theft for recycling without permission from skips. Wombling from fly tip sites is legal though.

Moving rubbish taht has been fyl tipped even on your own land is illegal BTW landowners are supposed to contact the police so they can check for evidence of a crime and then you are supposed to pay the council to remove it.
This all seems sill but it is tue.