wood

[Backyard Bushcraft]

hey lovely bushcrafters, recently dabbled my hand at making a few spoons and suprised myself at how well they have come out, all i need now to troop on is a good supply of wood, obviously i want to collect my own wood and dry it my self, anyone got any tips on what wood i should get and the different ways of drying it?? and in the mean time i was thinking of poping to my local timber yard an getting some off cuts, anything in particular i should be asking for, looking for a nice easy wood to carve thats gonna look great wen its oiled...dont want much do i ha ha ha, never ask an ill never learn
cheers guys
Jamie

 

[Biddlesby]

Lets have some pictures!

If you go for a hardwood they usually have lovely grains and if you carve them when green its not too bad going. But of course they are liable to split! I found apple and other fruitwoods work very well.

[edit] Also there is plenty of material on this kind of stuff in old threads, so have a search around.

 

[British Red]

PLenty of cherry around in gardens and wild as fruit woods go. Birch is a lovely carve. I find walnut too linear in grain so I'll pas there. Oak and ash are great. You can carve in the green although there is some chance of splitting as it dries. If planning to season your own, cool and slow is the way to go - takes a couple of years to do really well if its large - less if its small.

Why not try some furniture restorers, wood turners (very nice for a source). Bowl blanks can be bought cheaply in a varitey of sizes and many woods

Hope that helps

Red

 

[weaver]

I turned a little mallet from a dogwood tree that had to get out of the way for my daughters garden. It was fresh cut and dripping wet, turned very easily. I dried it in the microwave. Just put it on thaw or set it to about 30% energy and on for 30 seconds-rest for 30 seconds. In 10 minutes it will be fairly dry and no splits. If you go too fast it will crack though.

Another method that works well is to carve the spoon, let it soak in alcohol overnight then seal it up in a paper bag. Leave it a week or two and it should be dry and ready to oil.

A third method that works is to carve the spoon then soak it in simmering oil for an hour then bake it for half an hour.

Try any or all three ways and see which works best for you.

 

[British Red]

Croquet mallet was it weaver?



Red

 

[John Fenna]

Box is my wood of choice, carves well, finishes beautifully, feels great. Can be hard to find. Sycamore is pleasant to carve and is widely found and often concidered weed wood and freely available.John