One for the carvers.

[mikey.elefant]

It isn't easy to find good wood here for carving at the most part because the woods that grow in our climate are so dense and hard that one would need power tools to work with them.

This has created a situation where hardly do I use any wood from the nature here. Most of my wood comes from different fruit plantations.(lemon,orange,avocado etc.)

I have come by a few nice pieces of Fikus(?) And was wondering if any one can help with its qualities.

The wood seems dense and I like the bigger grains of it. I am hoping to make another Axe handle of it but I know nothing about it.



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[2trapper]

For scales and woodcarving (small objects) you can use olive wood. it is not so hard to work with the proper hand tools while green. I not like fig (Fikus) very much: too tender and tends to split and it very hard to find a proper size for the log. Avoid palm for its grain. You could try sycamore, but ongly for green carving

 

[VaughnT]

For cheap wood, look no further than your average shipping pallet. Most of them are made from the cheapest wood they can find in the region they're made. Soft, easy to work with a knife, and some of them are in large enough pieces that you could make a hatchet handle or the like.

For native trees, a hardwood is what you're looking for. Some flexibility is great, but you definitely want a hardwood over a softwood. If it's hard to work without a power tool, it's probably decent for an axe handle. I have generally found fruit trees to provide a suitable wood for hatchets.