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Basswood is not available in New Zealand and has to be imported meaning freight, especially from USA, is expensive. I am able to get Paulownia locally and has a Janka hardness similar to Basswood and it has similar characteristics. I am in the process of obtaining a small supply to try but wondered if anyone has tried it and if so how does it compare to Basswood?
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I made many things from pauwlonia with my scrollsaw... turned out very well, but do not know how it is for carving...You do not have permission to view this gallery.
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You might want to refer to this previous thread on the Forum. https://forum.woodcarvingillustrated...ood-for-detail
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Hi Yolli, that is some Fine Scroll Work. You are one Talented Lady. MerleComment
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I had a piece once and it carved well.'If it wasn't for caffeine, I wouldn't have any personality at all!"
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http://centralarkansaswoodcarvers.blogspot.com/Comment
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@Eddie-Smiles Thanks for that link. I did search but nothing came up and even now if I search it does not pop up although your link works. Looks like its OK. Maybe not as good as basswood but, as a new whittler, it means I can blame any dud results on the wood and not meComment
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Just make sure you keep your tools razor sharp and be mineful of the way the grain lies. I've been carving some old Jelutong and it's extremely dry and loves to split. However, by taking my time, paying attention to the grain, and keeping my knives sharp I've had fairly good success.Originally posted by GerryAttrick View PostComment
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Yes, Goody sent me a bunch of it, he loved it. It has a soft open grain. Goody love to carve it. In fact, if I remember right all his carvings before he closed shop were made of it. He like it because was free and available. I just figured due to the dry environment in the mainland US it does well???. Easy to carve but...It does not do well in high humidity. It was stringy, it would break easily, it would get the fuzzies a lot worst than Basswood. Basswood does not carve well in the high-humidity salt air either. Basswood open grains soak up the humidity also here. It is noted I do not have AC so whatever the weather is outside is in the shop. Right now it been pouring rain for a month, and the humidity sticks to you like glue...most wood hardwoods do not soak in the water, so when you carve the wood is very stable.
In fact, paulownia was the worst wood that I have ever carved in my book of opinions, the second to last bad one is some species of redwood. I carved about four Santas and gave up....all of it was bad wood to carve. All those Santas became firewood even with wood stabilizers, and I could not get the paulownia to a carvable level. It was like trying to carve diseased wood, the way I see it ... thumbs-down vote from my experience.Last edited by DiLeon; 06-07-2023, 10:43 AM.. Explore! Dream! Discover!” aloha DiComment
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I spent some time in NZ, but did not carve much back then. My good friend however carved Paulownia and thought it was ok, but not great. He preferred to buy boards of Kahikatea which is like a pine. He would actually cut the board and glue them up 2-3 boards thick and then cut blocks from that. It carved extremely well. You have to negotiate the grain somewhat and make sure your tools are sharp, but it was a pretty nice wood to carve.Comment
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Kahikatea is another wood I have been told to try and I'll see if I can get some locally as there are a few arborists I know here. I am still waiting to hear about Paulownia supply but I am trying some pine and it does not seem too bad. We have large Pine plantations around us. It is very fast growing so very open grained. I have some pine from the local Big Box store and it seems to be more close grained and does seem OK. My problem is that I have not carved basswood yet so have no comparison basis. I have some Basswood but wanted to get a bit more experience before I attack it as there are only a couple of blanksComment
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