Thread: Basswood Blocks for carving

No you're right Balsa is no good at all for carving.
I'm in he UK so cannot say English lime, or basswood American lime for US . Ummm..... do you get Jelutong out there ?
Hopefully "Whittling" will see this he's in AUS & knows his stuff.


As for recomendations to which plan to work to , it's best not to be too ambitious at first until you get into the swing of things but it must be something that has some attraction for you too.

Umm... I'll have a quick look around.......https://www.pdfclassicbooks.com/20-e...oy-scouts.html & definitely also here , these are called chainsaw patterns but are ideal as whittling patterns .http://www.chainsawcarve.ca/patterns.html .

Here's a link that'll is a good whittling one - WoodBeeCarver

If you have an questions don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers Mike

It will require you to do a bit of research, but here's an Australian site with wood info: https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/forestry/...f-timber-trees and here's a similar American site: Basswood | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwoods) The key numbers to compare are Janka Hardness (higher the number, harder the wood) and Density (higher the number, harder and heavier the wood). Hopefully, you can find a local wood that is near Basswood or English Lime. Mike's suggestion of Jelutong is a good one. WoodBeeCarver has lots of beginner patterns. There are several carvings in my ETSY shop that could be used by a beginner. I have provided photos of front and side views of them so the photos can be used as patterns.

Claude

See if you can find Jelutong.

An Australian species worth looking for is White Beech, Gmelina leichhardtii.

Jelutong is usually the wood of choice for beginners but in my experience, Polar, and Willow work very well for beginners and have the advantage of being easy to find. I've used green poplar boughs (about as think as a human wrist, and cut to 200mm lengths) in my Beginner Whittling workshops for almost 10 year now with great success. A few others which may be more difficult to find but still grow in Oz are: Lime, Silver Birch, Camphor Laurel, and European Cypress (not native cypress which is far too hard). The 'gentlemen' in the photo were both carved from poplar, as was the 'spirit face' in the staff.



These were done in Willow.



These two are cypress:



These are Jelutong

You will be able to get Jelutong from Matthews timber.

Basswood is occasionally available but the price is prohibitive. I have seen it for sale in carving blanks at the Timber and woodwork shows. Trend Timbers in NSW also has basswood and lime from time to time.

Jelutong is ACE to carve, however if you are making a carving that is going to be displayed outside then it's less than ideal.
Huon pine and King billy pine are both excellent to carve and will generally outlast 'you' if displayed outside.
How big a bits were you looking at getting, to start on?
Might possibly be able to help out.

Thank you all for the replies, some GREAT information
A few of you have mentioned 'Jelutong'. Would anyone know where this could be found to purchase or online around Melbourne?

I tried again today with the Balsa Wood I had bought from Bunnings today, very disappointed with the result.
It seems to carve easily except when on the end of the piece where it just splinters and cracks (crumbling - falling apart) ??? Why is this happening? I tried working the other way (other end) to ensure I wasn't going in opposite direction to the grain but had the same outcome?

This pic (before carving)shows what happens even with a rough saw cut before I began.

IMG_1303.JPG

Re buying jelutong in Melbourne - as mentioned above - Matthews Timber.

Re the balsa wood collapsing - working end grain is always much harder then long grain. In this case it could be because the timber is rubbish (it is) or because tools are not sharp, or both.

l like to use wood from the fire wood pile , cost me nothing as l just chuck it in the fire when l stuff it up ,

I don't know if the trick would work on carving Balsa, but when I have been cutting dovetails in Hoop Pine, wetting the wood stops a fair amount of crumbling under the chisel.

You might like to try to spritz the end grain with a spray bottle before cutting into it.

Your in Melbourne, I order carving wood from Pop's shed and have it sent to W.A. They have a large variety of carving woods and could probably advise you on carving clubs. They advertise on this site if you want to check them out.

Originally Posted by Robthechisel

Your in Melbourne, I order carving wood from Pop's shed and have it sent to W.A. They have a large variety of carving woods and could probably advise you on carving clubs. They advertise on this site if you want to check them out.

Thanks Rob, I have sent them an email

Re: collapsing Balsa.
I picked up some lovely Flexcut knives the other day... Seemed to cut 200% better but the ends still seem to collapse making the task of rounding a ball (beginner project) on a block almost impossible. I achieved the job with an offcut of pine that I had lying around around 50mmx50mm. Though it was a long hard slog as the timber was so much harder. Looking fwd to trying some better timber soon

very nice

Locally basswood is a bit of a PITA to source, but the suggestions of other members are spot on. If, however, you are desperate for basswood, a bit of a search around amazon will yield results for basswood blocks big enough for decent practice and projects. Their cheap shipping, even from the US makes it palatable to the wallet (though I have no doubt local timbers in any real quantity would be much better economically). All the best for your carving future!