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I was having a discussion with one of our members (CV3) regarding carving certain woods so I thought I'd throw this topic out for a little "chew the fat"
Myself if I have preference I like the look of a red maple staff, but I found out through trial and error its a miserable wood to try and hand carve, so after seeing our friend from England (Cobalt) affixing carved toppers to his sticks a light bulb went off I and started adding toppers to red oak staffs. I have expanded to a couple other woods as well.
I find adding the toppers a bit less stressful than carving a complete staff. For me decent sticks are at a premium and as a new carver I feel more comfortable turning a topper into designer firewood than trashing a whole stick if I screw up.
I like just about any wood for a staff, I have made mine from silver & red maple, red oak, black cherry, hickory, buckthorn, sassafras, tulip poplar and white pine, I even have a balsam fir stick I salvaged off the scrap Christmas Tree pile.
Carving the wood is another thing. As I previously have stated I have found red oak a rough wood for a noobie stick carver to work with and I have given up trying to carve it at this point.
Black cherry for me is a hard wood to carve also, but it doesn't crush when using gouges or V tools, it finishes nice and holds very good detail, I like it. I have carved several toppers and a couple canes from it.
Lately I have been carving toppers from old white pine 2x4's. Pine is an easy wood to carve, holds decent detail, but it is very tough to get a good finish on as it is bland in color so oils don't do much to it and it stains blotchy even after using stain conditioner. ( I have since read to use conditioner twice prior to staining)
I have carved maple with similar results to white pine, though it takes oils a bit better and doesn't seem to break or chip as easy.
Now I am going to expand my horizon's and try whittling on hickory next. I know it's a very hard wood and will require patience and a lot of stropping, but hey I'm retired what's the rush?
Also anybody work with mulberry? I've got a couple weedy white mulberry trees I keep lopping off with the chain saw in the spring and at the end of the season they are back to 15' tall. Thought I'd put them to use.
Gee, guess I didn't pick a favorite did I? I suppose my favorite is the wood I'm whittling on now!
Well what say you guys and gals, have you got a favorite?
Myself if I have preference I like the look of a red maple staff, but I found out through trial and error its a miserable wood to try and hand carve, so after seeing our friend from England (Cobalt) affixing carved toppers to his sticks a light bulb went off I and started adding toppers to red oak staffs. I have expanded to a couple other woods as well.
I find adding the toppers a bit less stressful than carving a complete staff. For me decent sticks are at a premium and as a new carver I feel more comfortable turning a topper into designer firewood than trashing a whole stick if I screw up.
I like just about any wood for a staff, I have made mine from silver & red maple, red oak, black cherry, hickory, buckthorn, sassafras, tulip poplar and white pine, I even have a balsam fir stick I salvaged off the scrap Christmas Tree pile.
Carving the wood is another thing. As I previously have stated I have found red oak a rough wood for a noobie stick carver to work with and I have given up trying to carve it at this point.
Black cherry for me is a hard wood to carve also, but it doesn't crush when using gouges or V tools, it finishes nice and holds very good detail, I like it. I have carved several toppers and a couple canes from it.
Lately I have been carving toppers from old white pine 2x4's. Pine is an easy wood to carve, holds decent detail, but it is very tough to get a good finish on as it is bland in color so oils don't do much to it and it stains blotchy even after using stain conditioner. ( I have since read to use conditioner twice prior to staining)
I have carved maple with similar results to white pine, though it takes oils a bit better and doesn't seem to break or chip as easy.
Now I am going to expand my horizon's and try whittling on hickory next. I know it's a very hard wood and will require patience and a lot of stropping, but hey I'm retired what's the rush?
Also anybody work with mulberry? I've got a couple weedy white mulberry trees I keep lopping off with the chain saw in the spring and at the end of the season they are back to 15' tall. Thought I'd put them to use.
Gee, guess I didn't pick a favorite did I? I suppose my favorite is the wood I'm whittling on now!
Well what say you guys and gals, have you got a favorite?