What wood for beginners carving?

[Antonymous]

I picked up some seasoned wood (beech I think) in the woods to have a go at carving. It was hard for me to carve, and nie on impossible for students of mine.

What woods would you recommend for beginners?

Cheers mi dears

 

[Robson Valley]

Where you are, by all means "Lime." Quite featureless, look for clear wood with no defects.

The original was Tilia platyphyllos but I read that's quite rare now, T. x europea hybrid is far more common.
The genetic equivalent in North America is Basswood (Tilia americana.)
Northern Basswood is much more easily carved than wood harvested from the southern states.

I don't know what to suggest as alternatives.
However, most woods change from cheese to bone as they dry so fresh wood and "carving sharp" edges is quite entertaining.

 

[Muddypaws]

Green (unseasoned) woods would be best, with willow probably being the softest. Green birch and sycamore would be next. But how a wood carves can change quite dramatically depending on the moisture content - for example trying to carve seasoned sycamore can be quite hard on the hands, but nowhere near as hard as (for example) seasoned beech or oak.

 

[Billy-o]

Balsa isn't a bad idea. Woods have different resistances, habits, densities, but the modelling aspect is as important ...

 

[Robson Valley]

Lime has been the wood of choice, there must be many reasons.
One key advantage is that it does not harden as it dries like willow.

Balsa is practically too soft with very little fiber.
Keeping the edges "carving sharp" isn't wood working.
It's different and it's half the effort.

I thought that somebody would have mentioned conifer woods by now.
They don't hold detail which is OK if you don't care.
Always, always do a ring count = 15-40/inch. Less or more is really tough.

 

[Antonymous]

thanks for the collective wisdom of the BCUK community

 

[Janne]

Lime. Has been used by manu wood carvers in Europe since times immortsl.
You can see many examples of Lime wood carvings in Catholic churches.

 

[Fadcode]

Lime is the best option, especially for beginners, here is a link which you can buy blocks for carving quite cheap, in groups it is best if everyone has the same size block this make it much easier to follow instructions for carving.
https://www.toolsandtimber.co.uk/lime-carving-blanks-28mm-thick-par-square-grouped-1160
I have no connection with this firm, and no doubt there are other firms offering the same items.

 

[demographic]

Lime is the best option, especially for beginners, here is a link which you can buy blocks for carving quite cheap, in groups it is best if everyone has the same size block this make it much easier to follow instructions for carving.
https://www.toolsandtimber.co.uk/lime-carving-blanks-28mm-thick-par-square-grouped-1160
I have no connection with this firm, and no doubt there are other firms offering the same items.

I was in that shop last week, decent bloke running it and interesting place with an absolute mass of high end tools (Veritas, Lie-Nielsen and the like on offer.
Plus its just off the Rheged roundabout near Penrith so its in a nice area.

 

[Robson Valley]

The availability of the top brands of wood carving tools varies considerably across the world.
Pfeil, Aurioux, Stubai, Henry Taylor, Ashley Iles, Narex, Hans Karlsson are names to look for.

How big and what kinds are your carvings? Flexcut, Moor, Rammelson and others fill that market.

If it's your intention to carve utensils like spoons and kuksa, some of the very best bladesmiths are members of this parish.

Should you wish to explore the usefulness of the wood carving tools of the Pacific Northwest First Nations, you'll have to look again.
Names such as Kestrel, North Bay and Cariboo are at the top of anyone's list.

You can revise Farrier's hoof trimming knives to make perfectly acceptable wood carving blades.
I know of a dozen makes, I have Hall, Diamond, Mora Frost and Ukal/Supervet.
Junk worn down used knives from your local farrier are the cheapest!

Half the battle is sustaining carving sharp edges. That implies honing every 30 minutes or so.
No big deal, only takes a minute. Sharpening and honing are half the skillls in wood carving.

 

[grip]

Silver birch is a good choice

 

[mr dazzler]

alder is a good one, its very forgiving if you carve back against the grain, you try that with ash or oak its more likely yo will start a split. It carves well wet or seasoned. Quite light in weight, nice bronze/pink/golden colours. Alder.
Birch is another good one. These 2 are easy to get. Lime is harder to find out and about, but it smells nice (peppery) thats what was used to make printing blocks at one time, takes fine detail. Willow is soft, light and easy to carve but is a bit stringy. If you did have beech, it should have been fine to carve unless your tools was as blunt as my a##e. Even seasoned its smooth as butter to get a nice clean finish

 

[Leshy]

I'll add that any fruit trees (apple , pear etc) are really nice and easy to carve especially when green ...

 

[woodspirits]

I picked up some seasoned wood (beech I think) in the woods to have a go at carving. It was hard for me to carve, and nie on impossible for students of mine.

What woods would you recommend for beginners?

Cheers mi dears

‘Beginners’ being the key word here, anything green you can lay your hands on as long as it’s ethically sourced and you don’t go lopping branches off! Try your local arborists for freshly cut wood. Anything dead is going to be tough, a beginner wants to hopefully see some kind of result or they lose interest, better tools and methodology can follow later.

 

[fhaggis]

make sure your knives are sharp, i mean really sharp! to be honest ive really struggled to get my knives sharp enough to carve properly.

 

[Sundowner]

We've got a lot of ash around here, so I'm using that. But I have also used maple, silver birch, stone dead dried ivy and hazel which are both a bu$$er to carve