Likes: 0
Needs Pictures: 0
Picture(s) thanks: 0
Results 1 to 3 of 3
Thread: New to wood carving
-
28th April 2020, 08:55 PM #1New Members
- Join Date
- Apr 2020
- Location
- Penrith
- Posts
- 2
New to wood carving
Hi all,
I am new to the world carving and looking to get into my own projects. I have started to collect tools such as knives and gouges for carving but need some help and tips in regards to what wood to carve.
I am located in Penrith, NSW which is on the border of the Blue Mountains, so I have an abundance of trees around me.
Does anyone know the best type of wood to carve from or what I should be looking for?
Any tips would be much appreciated!
Alec
-
28th April 2020 08:55 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
- Join Date
- Always
- Location
- Advertising world
- Posts
- Many
-
29th April 2020, 05:36 PM #2SENIOR MEMBER
- Join Date
- Feb 2012
- Location
- Denmark, WA
- Age
- 66
- Posts
- 174
Hi Alec
I can't offer any NSW specific timber advice, but it may well be easier to find a timber seller close to you and ask what they have that is suitable. Hopefully someone in your area can be more helpful. Good luck with the carving. It is an incredibly rewarding (if sometimes challenging) pastime.
Philip.
-
29th April 2020, 07:01 PM #3GOLD MEMBER
- Join Date
- May 2003
- Location
- Central Coast, NSW
- Posts
- 3,330
My opinion is get some Jelutong. It’s an extremely soft timber with a straight, regular grain. There are two thing to understand about learning to carve:
1. The basic skills needed to carve are exactly the same if you are using a hard or a soft timber. We are talking about skills like how to hold a gouge, the 5 basic knife cuts, sharpening tools, how to progress from rough forming to detail work, how to visualise in 3d, understanding what designs work and why etc. So make it easy for yourself and get a timber that is easy to carve so you enjoy the experience and can focus on technique.
2. Most local timbers are excessively hard, difficult and time consuming to carve. If you start your carving using a local eucalyptus species I can almost guarantee you’ll get fed up and your interest won’t last long.
I know this because I once belonged to a carving club and we met each week, and almost every week a newcomer turned up and was given a piece of hard, tough wood to carve (to my immense frustration, but I didn’t interfere) as well as some basic instruction. I never once saw one of those beginners come back a second time.
Other options are white beech and basswood/lime wood.
Camphor laurel can be good too, but it’s variable.
Avoid some soft timbers however. Western red cedar, for example, is what I call spongy/stringy and is awful to carve. Pine and Oregon are terrible.
Once you have basic techniques under control, you can progress to a somewhat harder but more characterful timber. My favourites are Burmese teak, mahogany and basswood.
I used to buy Jelutong at Matthews Timber, which is somewhere near St Marys.Apologies for unnoticed autocomplete errors.
Similar Threads
-
New to wood carving
By ajg95 in forum WOODCARVING AND SCULPTUREReplies: 6Last Post: 8th August 2020, 11:05 PM -
Is wood carving the scummy end of wood working
By MeTaBo MaN in forum WOODCARVING AND SCULPTUREReplies: 26Last Post: 11th June 2018, 12:10 PM -
Not wood carving
By wheelinround in forum WOODCARVING AND SCULPTUREReplies: 5Last Post: 25th March 2010, 02:08 PM -
Wood Carving tools + Wood Advice needed BAD
By tiki in forum WOODWORK - GENERALReplies: 8Last Post: 23rd July 2006, 09:51 PM -
Wood Carving tools/wood help needed....
By tiki in forum WOODCARVING AND SCULPTUREReplies: 2Last Post: 4th August 2003, 12:56 AM