what woods are best for carving?

[moved on agiles10]

I got hold of a tree surgeon which gave me some lime, which i am going make some cordage from but is it any good for carving, easy to work with?

what woods are easy to carve for beginners

[badgeringtim]

I understand that lime is one of the best - gives a very creamy colouerd finish.
Not had the chance myself though.
I also recall that its good for heath boards for friction firelighting

Many others on here who'll have better knowlage than i though.

Also worth searching the forums, as there are a great many threads on woods and their various uses chances are this has been addressed many times over!
:-)

[moved on agiles10]

is it i'll give it ago then

i forgot about fire by friction i may try that as well

[brancho]

Birch Alder and Sycamore carve well especially when green

[HillBill]

Yeah, sycamore and birch were the easiest green. Sycamore is good for things in contact with food, spoons, spatulas etc. Willow is good too.

[dwardo]

Lime is great carving wood:)

[moved on agiles10]

thanks all,

so what would you say would be a easy project for a beginner to carve?

[Greg]

I think most people make spoons as a starting point! Good luck from a fellow:newbie:

[troy ap De skog]

well easy to carve...
any member or the birch family- (hazle, alder and birch)
sycomore and anyother Acer/maple
Lime
any of the Rose woods(sorbus/ prunus are easierst of these)

make a litle box or tracking pole with decorations...
then move onto spoons, bowls and cups...

[Klenchblaize]

Holly

Cheers!

[moved on agiles10]

Saturday i had a go at a spoon i think it looks good, and wouldn't mind your opinions but dont know how to upload a picture onto this thread.

[Pandabean]

Does anyone have any opinions on Pines, spruces & Firs? Just popped up to my local woods and found some dead spruce/fir wood.
I am carving a spoon out of spruce (I think) and so far it seems pretty easy, however I have yet to carve out the spoony part, just got a basic outline the now.


Agiles, as for uploading a picture, most people upload to an external site like flickr or photobucket and link to it in their post. As for uploading directly to the forum, I am not 100% sure.

[moved on agiles10]

here we go finally got around to posting a pic

http://s616.photobucket.com/albums/tt250/agiles10/?action=view&current=DSCF1185.jpg

http://s616.photobucket.com/albums/tt250/agiles10/?action=view&current=DSCF1186.jpg

hopefully this works

[HillBill]

Not bad for a first try mate.

[moved on agiles10]

thanks hillbill

[Nice65]

thanks all,

so what would you say would be a easy project for a beginner to carve?

Lime is nice to carve as it doesn't have a grain that snags or tries to split out and it's super soft.. I gave a piece to a friend who had never carved in his life. About a fortnight later he showed me a wooden ball captured in a wooden cage, no way in or out for the ball. That was his first, and I was suitably impressed. Then he made a piece of wooden chain!

I think you can do whatever takes your fancy really. Or, he can!