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Below is a quick summary of what was discussed plus any resources we may have mentioned.
Show Notes
This will be a much shorter episode today, but don’t be fooled, it will still offer you vital information to aid you in your wood carving/spoon carving journey. Today we are going to be discussing the materials you will be working with: wood. After all, you can’t be a wood carver without it.
Before you think “wood is just wood, right?” let me tell you, it’s not. Not all wood is the same, there are two types of wood, hardwood and softwood, and within those two types there are many species. Let’s talk, firstly, about softwood.
Softwood
You tend to get softwood from trees that are in the “evergreen” variety, (the trees that never lose their leaves). These trees include Pine, Cedar, Fir, etc, think about a Christmas tree, this is an Evergreen. What’s that got to do with carving? Well, nothing, we just wanted to tell you where it comes from, now we will tell you what it’s good for. Softwood tends to be a great wood for construction projects as it’s a light and easy wood to work with, but it’s not great for carving. However, saying that, we would recommend all beginners to practice carving softwood. This is because it is so much easier to work with. If you do decide to start out carving softwood, we would suggest you start on seasoned (dried) wood.
Going on a little rabbit trail here…greenwood is the name used for fresh wood that is still wet, this is due to the sap and moisture content in the wood. Wood when carved fresh (or “in the green”) is a lot softer, which means even hardwood is easy to carve when green. Seasoned wood is the name given for wood that has been dried, this is the wood that you would find in your local hardware store, usually used for either building projects or firewood.
Now back to why we suggest carving “seasoned” softwood. Evergreen trees have a very sticky and wet sap, and when it comes to carving this while it’s fresh, this sap is a nightmare to clean. Every couple of cuts with your knife, you’ll be having to wipe it off your knife, and you’ll soon realize it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Also due to the nature or softwood, it is very easy to carve even when it is seasoned, therefore there is no real need to carve it fresh.
What can you carve out of softwood? The answer is…not much, to be completely honest. Because the wood is so soft, the things you’ll make out if it will not stand up to the pressure needed for them to handle. Think of a cooking spoon, you want that spoon to be very sturdy, after all it’s going to get a lot of use. If it was carved in pine, for example, it just wouldn’t stand up to the test. Now think of a thin and delicate pendant, it won’t take much to snap this in half even when it’s carved from hardwood! Therefore, we don’t suggest carving anything you want to keep or sell out of softwood. However, as we said before, we do recommend it as a starter wood to practice on before moving on to hardwoods.
Hardwood
What is hardwood? Hardwood is everything else that’s not softwood. These are woods such as Oak, Beech, Cherry, Walnut, etc. All these woods, when they dry, gain strength and prove to be very durable.
Hardwood is what we use in all our woodenware and what we would recommend you carve when you feel more comfortable. However, even though some hardwoods can be soft, they aren’t softwood, but they are easier to carve and are less dense than other hardwoods, these woods include things like Basswood or Aspen. Hardwood can be used to carve anything, whether it’s turning bowls on a lathe, carving spoons, or even making a walking stick; the strength that comes when these woods dry will give you a highly durable end result. If carving hardwood is something that interests you, let us give you a friendly piece of advice, carve it as fresh as possible! This is when green woodworking comes into play. You carve the wood while it’s still wet and fresh, and then allow the wood to completely dry, before going over it one last time, removing any harsh edges or areas that are still chunky, either using your knife or sandpaper (as discussed last week). If you are wanting to pursue working with green hardwood, we have found that coating the ends of the log with PVA or school glue helps retain the moisture in the wood and prevents it from drying out too quick.
Choosing Wood
One last topic to discuss, and that is ‘what to look for when choosing your wood’. We’ve already discussed hardwood and softwood, but now we want to tell you how to find good wood, whether it is soft or hard. This is going to be aimed with spoon carving in mind and I’ll first start with picking fresh greenwood. If you have the ability to cut down branches or trees, you are in a better position than others. You will want to look for pieces that are straight (especially for starting out). Try to find pieces without many branches coming out of it, picture a nice long straight branch with nothing protruding out of it. Whenever a branch enters into a log, on the inside you will find a knot, and you do “knot” want that. If you are looking for wood that has already fallen to the ground, you want it as fresh as possible. We know you have no idea when it was cut (unless you see it happen), but there are some signs to look for. If the bark is falling or has already fallen off, this is a bad sign, usually means the wood is rotting or already dried out. Also look to see if the ends of the wood are cracked and if so, try to assess how badly. Keep an eye out for small holes in the bark or wood that may show signs of bugs or worms eating the wood. It may take a few weeks of finding bad wood before you truly realize what to look out for, but hopefully these few pointers will help you when starting out.
As always, we hope this has been beneficial for you and if you have any questions please feel free to contact us at info@fggdesigns.com.
