Practice wood?

[Frank&Earnest]

Frank and earnest, do you know for a fact that poplar is a poor carving timber ?

Uhmm, I'll ignore the possibility that you are suggesting I could be talking out of my,,,,. Everything is relative: I know for a fact that poplar is the poorest for carving of all the timbers mentioned here so far, so why drink a bottle of plonk when you can drink a bottle of good wine? It does not have to be Grange Hermitage...

In the end, it boils down to personal preferences: I prefer harder woods and, as I said before, put the greatly prized Huon at the bottom of the pile ( which entitles you to consider me a heretic and send me to hell anyway. ) Conversely, no established source I ever came across mentioned poplar as a good carving timber, but if you are happy with it, who's to say you should not?

I am surprised that nobody mentioned Queensland's silky oak: the figure is a bit too busy, but it carves beautifully (at least the one piece I carved did).

Another imported garden tree you could come across by chance that has good carving timber is the silver birch (betula pendula). I have a stack of small branches I had cut for the barbecue but could not bear to burn, yet - if anybody wants to try some, just let me know.

[Whittling]

Well, I'll put my oar in again and say that 'good' timber is timber that is suitable for a purpose. Obviously it depends on what you want to do with it. You asked for a practice timber and in my opinion poplar is about as good as it gets for that. It is soft and makes life easier for those who haven't got as many hours on the tools as some others might have. Its also quite plain (flat white with almost no visible grain), unless you can find a bit that been dead on the tree for a while, then it will have some interesting colour.

I've posted a number of photos of sticks and other 'folk' carvings done in poplar which have the added bonus of being marketable. Again, in my opinion, if you can create something for which someone else is willing to part with hard-earned cash, then its a 'good' timber. Here are 4 more... all poplar... all sold for between 75 and 100 dollars. I know that's 'small stuff' to a lot of guys but its 'Money for Jam' to me.

I know that sometimes there can be a bit of an elitist feeling amoungst carvers (I include myself here) about certain woods and/or techniques, but really, at the end of the day, if it works for you then go for it. If you try it and you don't like it... well move on to something else. The most any of us can really comment on is our own experience.

And I really like silver birch too... its just a lot harder to find!

[BoomerangInfo]

Jacaranda should be OK as a practise timber and easier to get hold of around Brissy or Northern NSW.

Now I'll pull my head back in and go back to the Turning forums

I've seen some trees along the side of the road on the way to Toowoomba that I thought may hav ebeen the Poplars. Ther's one just up the highway from my place too I think. I'll have to try and go get a picture and see if it's the same. I'm just past Cunningham's gap, so it can get chilly around here.

Actually I mean to ask about Jacaranda before, as someone mentioned it years ago. But I vaguely remember them saying it has a tendancy to crack easily as well.

I'm still missing the "technique" of grabbing this stuff though. I'm not the sort of person who can walk into a strangers yard and say "Can I have that branch on the ground?" or some such, and I don't have a large network of friends who I can "assist" with their gardening either. Hence why I mentioned maybe trying to get into the local club.

But that's OK, I just have to try harder to make connections.

Oh, I picked up the "field Guide to Australian Trees" today as well. I've wanted some wood ID books for years, so I reckon it's about time I start trying to learn a bit more, while my eyesight is still good enough to recognise what I'm looking at

Finally, I also quizzed some of the US basswood suppliers about getting it sent over here. The wood is cheap enough over there, $1.75 for 2" x 2" x 12", but average postage on that at the cheapest price I could finds adds about $4.50 to each piece

Russell.

[Pat]

I am surprised that nobody mentioned Queensland's silky oak: the figure is a bit too busy, but it carves beautifully (at least the one piece I carved did).

See the latest issue of Australian Woodworker for some carvings in Silky Oak. Ernie Blackwell.

It may change some opinions . . .

[BoomerangInfo]

See the latest issue of Australian Woodworker for some carvings in Silky Oak. Ernie Blackwell.

It may change some opinions . . .

I don't know what it is, so can't comment, and don;t know whether you're saying it's good or bad. From what I've seen of the piece of Silky Oak I have, I didn't think it would be very good. The reason why is, it's a beautiful cabinet timber, nice figure with the grain. However that figure across the grain comes in "flakes" is the best way I could describe it. Carving in the round, those flakey bits would pop u regularly and create all sorts of problems I'd have thought.

I'm willing to have a go at carving anything. Cheap and readily available is more more criteria than ease of carving, although of course if it's not easy to carve it's not a good beginners timber. But if it's easy to carve and is either very expensive or not readily available, then it's no good to me at this stage in my training.

Personally I'm thinking Camphor Laurel may be my best bet, as I know councils around SE Qld are destroying them as quickly s they can, and it'd be just a matter of catching them at the right time to get more than I could ever use. It's just my personal issues with being in the right place at the right time that are holding me up.

If the Jacaranda's are OK, they may be likely candidates. They're certainly eay to find now, being in bloom. I love it this time of year around here. The purple Jacarandas and the Yellow/Orange Silky Oaks stand out a mile from all of the surrounding greenery, and they're both very attractive. trouble is most other people think so too, so may take offence to me standing there hacking at them with a hatchet

Russell.

[Frank&Earnest]

Personally I'm thinking Camphor Laurel may be my best bet.

Yep.

[schaf]

Thanks TTIT,I have forgotten about poplar already.

Frank, I am ignorant of the timber,thanks for your reply, I have crossed off poplar.

Terry

[schaf]

My favorite carving timbers are White Beech,Camphor Laurel and Myrtle ( in that order)
Having said that, I am at the moment carving a greenman in Mango very hard but no worm holes. It may be the first and last time for the mango.