Thread: Where to buy wood for ocarina?

Originally Posted by gedditoffme

G'day all,

A total newbie with woodcarving, but want to try and carve a wooden ocarina. I found an interesting guide at How to Carve an Ocarina out of wood - ugly thing, but I can try and make it look more rounded and it should sound good.

However, it is made of Basswood. He comments this is amazingly cheap and easy to sculpt, but i've never heard of it. It sounds like one of those americanisms - and I'm not sure where to get it in Adelaide.

So what sort of wood could I use? I'd prefer if I could get it easily from somewhere like Bunnings. And since I'm not sure what I'm doing - cheapness and ease of carving are probably the best features.

You could try Ottos in Norwood. Limewood might be a good substitute.

You will need a close grained timber, something with out too many pores as it will affect the performance of the "tongue" where the sound is produced. Beech would work as well. Merbau/Meranti etc from Bunnies is open pored and not so suitable. Remember that it will have to deal with moisture from your breath as well.

If there are a lot of pores you will end up with a more muddy sound rather then the clear tones of a typical Ocarina.

Ive always wanted to try one made from a coconut.

I'm a retired dendrologist.

Basswood (Tilia sp.) is Linden. Common soft carving wood in North America, practically featureless. I've never carved jelutong (sp?) but picture books make it look much the same as basswood.

At the risk of being rude, surely you can find something more interesting than basswood.

How did you go with the timber? if still no joy. PM me and i'll send down the amount you need in White beech, Australia's answer to Bass Wood.



Cheers


Steve

Huon pine might be good as is good in moisture. And soft so easy to carve.

Hi Steve, I see you are offering timber for sale in this thread plus another where you have offering spanish cedar for sale, there is a market place in the forum timber section try that.
Cheers, Bob

Originally Posted by toolbagsPLUS

How did you go with the timber? if still no joy. PM me and i'll send down the amount you need in White beech, Australia's answer to Bass Wood.



Cheers


Steve

Originally Posted by woodturner777

Hi Steve, I see you are offering timber for sale in this thread plus another where you have offering spanish cedar for sale, there is a market place in the forum timber section try that.
Cheers, Bob

Thanks for that Bob, but just to be clear I was offering to give some timber to the chap in this tread, not sell it. And was seeing if interest was there for instruments in the other thread. but I thank you for your direction and will post in the Timber section when it comes to selling.

Many Thanks


Cheers


Steve