what woods are best for carving?

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May 14, 2008
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I got hold of a tree surgeon which gave me some lime, which i am going make some cordage from but is it any good for carving, easy to work with?

what woods are easy to carve for beginners
 
I understand that lime is one of the best - gives a very creamy colouerd finish.
Not had the chance myself though.
I also recall that its good for heath boards for friction firelighting

Many others on here who'll have better knowlage than i though.

Also worth searching the forums, as there are a great many threads on woods and their various uses chances are this has been addressed many times over!
:-)
 
Yeah, sycamore and birch were the easiest green. Sycamore is good for things in contact with food, spoons, spatulas etc. Willow is good too.
 
well easy to carve...
any member or the birch family- (hazle, alder and birch)
sycomore and anyother Acer/maple
Lime
any of the Rose woods(sorbus/ prunus are easierst of these)

make a litle box or tracking pole with decorations...
then move onto spoons, bowls and cups...
 
Does anyone have any opinions on Pines, spruces & Firs? Just popped up to my local woods and found some dead spruce/fir wood.
I am carving a spoon out of spruce (I think) and so far it seems pretty easy, however I have yet to carve out the spoony part, just got a basic outline the now.


Agiles, as for uploading a picture, most people upload to an external site like flickr or photobucket and link to it in their post. As for uploading directly to the forum, I am not 100% sure.
 
thanks all,

so what would you say would be a easy project for a beginner to carve?

Lime is nice to carve as it doesn't have a grain that snags or tries to split out and it's super soft.. I gave a piece to a friend who had never carved in his life. About a fortnight later he showed me a wooden ball captured in a wooden cage, no way in or out for the ball. That was his first, and I was suitably impressed. Then he made a piece of wooden chain!

I think you can do whatever takes your fancy really. Or, he can!
 

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