While doing some research I discovered an exceptional resource which provides information on everything you ever wanted to know about 80 different species of woods. The information covers everything from things like carvability and density to stainablity and the size of the knots.
I was so impressed by the mass of information available on these lists that I thought I would share them with you here on Wood Chip Chatter.
I don’t intend to cover all 80 species but I will try to periodically provide the list of information for certain specific wood species here on the blog. Since most of us carve basswood I figure that’s the wood most of you would be interested in so here below is the list of Wood Properties of Basswood:
Wood Properties of Basswood
I encourage your feedback on what you thought about this list. Did you find it interesting or useful? Would you like to see more lists like this on the properties of other woods?
How To Carve A Curly Mustache
As a follow up to one of my earlier blogs on how to carve curls in hair, here is a short picture tutorial by Tony Harris on how he carves a curly mustache.
APOLOGY: I want to apologize for the blurry writing on the back cover of ‘Carving The Old Sea Captain’ in my last blog. It looked fine in my draft but for some reason it came out blurry once I published it.
EMAILS
Our first email comes from Jakobo Santiago with some comments and a question regarding baking wood. Jakobo writes:
“Hello everyone.
I hope you are having some long and profitable wood carving sessions
I’ve been reading and watching some videos on how to bake wood in the home oven to dry and harden it.
They also comment that its physical properties stabilize, its fibers compact and it tends less to deform. moreover, wood insects no longer attack it.
I understand it is not suitable for carving characters, but for spoons and the like, it can be interesting. What do you think about Bob?”
The basswood I use here is already kiln dried and stable so I don’t run into any of the problems you describe. I understand that many spoon carvers carve their spoons from live (wet) wood so I can see where the baking process might come into play there. I know the process works. Perhaps some of our spoon carvers or other readers can provide some more input on this topic.
Jakobo wrote back to say:
“And so, you’re right. I’ve been watching again the videos and they talks about wet wood (my english is not as good as it should be, so I lost parts of the speeching)
As a curiosity, here where I live (Canary Islands) the traditional method of curing wood was to immerse it in the sea for a few months and then dry it under the sun on the beach also for a long time.
Best wishes for you and your family”
That’s a very interesting way of curing wood, Jakob. It must take a lot of time. We would like to know more about this process. Also, what kind of wood do you use for carving in the Canary Islands?
Our next email comes from Roar Martinsen of Norway who shares some photos of a carpenter he carved:
“Hi Bob
I would like to share this carpenter with you.
Roar Martinsen
Norway”
That’s a terrific carving, Roar! It has a lot of nice details. How tall is it?
Thank you so much for the photos! We need more readers to send in their photos.
Let the chips fly! Tell your wood carving friends and spread the word about Wood Chip Chatter, and don’t forget to send in your questions and comments so we can keep Wood Chip Chatter active and keep the conversations going!
And remember, we need your photos! I’m sure you all have some terrific carvings to share and photos of your carvings will help to liven up the blog’s appearance and make it more interesting. Perhaps we can start a carvers photo section! Email your photos to carverbobk@woodchipchatter.com (let me know if you have any trouble attaching your photos).
Keep a sharp edge and keep on carvin’!
Wood Chip Chatter 
Hi Bob. Picture of my carpenter is 4.inch tal. Painted with acrylic paint.
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