Woods of the European Union

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season, and as we look toward the new year ahead we look forward to doing a lot more carving, improving our carving techniques and maybe even getting out to one or two carving shows, or join a club and make new friends.  There is a lotContinue reading “Woods of the European Union”

Wood Properties of Sassafras

Wood Properties of Sassafras SASSAFRAS, also called Ague Tree, (species Sassafras albidum), North American tree of the laurel family (Lauraceae), the aromatic leaf, bark, and root of which are used as a flavoring, as a traditional home medicine, and as a tea.  The roots yield about 2 percent oil of sassafras, once the characteristic ingredient of root beer. The tree is native to sandy soils fromContinue reading “Wood Properties of Sassafras”

Wood Properties of Butternut

Wood Properties of Butternut BUTTERNUT Juglans cinerea (Juglans – the classical name of the walnut, meaning the nut of Jupiter; cinerea – ash-colored, pertaining to the bark) The kernel of the nut is delicious and so rich and oily that the name OIL-NUT has sometimes been given to this tree. It grows from Quebec downContinue reading “Wood Properties of Butternut”

Wood Properties of Tupelo

Wood Properties of Tupelo TUPELO, WATER Nyssa aquatica (Nyssa – a water nymph; aquatica – of the water) This species is known by many different names, some of the most prominent being BAY POPLAR, GUM, GRAY GUM, HAZEL PINE, OLIVETREE, PAW PAW GUM, SOUR GUM, SWAMP TUPELO, TUPELO, TUPELO GUM, WHITE GUM and YELLOW GUM.Continue reading “Wood Properties of Tupelo”

Wood Properties of American Mahogany

Wood Properties of American Mahogany Although American Mahogany is considered a hardwood, it carved relatively easy and has an appealing grain and finishes beautifully.  Here are the wood properties of American Mahogany: READERS’ COMMENTS This is going to be a very short blog post today since I have received no readers’ comments or questions thisContinue reading “Wood Properties of American Mahogany”

Drying A Wood Product

Drying A Wood Product I received a message from Tim Sisko this week with a question and comment along with some photos of the Native American masks he carved, which has opened up an intriguing topic of discussion that I’m sure you will all want to read about.  The message reads: “Bob , I enjoyedContinue reading “Drying A Wood Product”

Wood Burning A Black Background

The following is a short tutorial for all you wood burners out there, on how to burn a black background.  There’s much more to it than just rubbing your burning pen back and forth all over (as I would have thought).  Read on and learn some tips on proper wood burning technique.   Wood Burning AContinue reading “Wood Burning A Black Background”

Wood Properties of White Pine

White Pine is one of the wood species requested for a Wood Properties list, so today’s blog begins with the list of the Wood Properties of White Pine. Wood Properties of White Pine                                                                                   READERS’ COMMENTS                         Dean Stewart wrote in to comment on the topic of strops from my last blog: “Bob,Thanks for theContinue reading “Wood Properties of White Pine”

The Comfort Bird

The Comfort Bird I‘m sure most of you have heard of Comfort Birds and many of you have probably carved a few of them.  Comfort Birds are often given to those in need such as the ill, blind, homeless, elderly or people in disaster areas such as hurricane flood zones, as a token of supportContinue reading “The Comfort Bird”

Wood Properties of Basswood

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 theseContinue reading “Wood Properties of Basswood”