I'm not suggesting a preference for MDF, unless it's all you have available. Might be a good idea to get your hand in rather than spoiling an expensive piece of the "correct" material?
Oooh - I feel shame now that I didn't notice the post from the chap who offered me wood. I'll PM and apologise to him.
Spruce is a nice wood to carve, but you need to get your tools very sharp to make it work well.
Makes it even better if you have a wood-stove for the left overs.
That link is a rabbit hole, terrible and funny in equal measure
Apart from the first two or three first years cabinet-making, I scavenged all my timber, from many sources where it would otherwise have ended up landfilled, burnt or just abandoned. I still have a goodly amount down in the store ..... but found myself bereft of lime and other timbers generally recommended as easier to carve. Hence my question about MDF. But this thread has persuaded me that I'm much better off using possibilities from my hardwood stores, even if they isn't as forgiving (to me or the tools) as lime, jelutong and so forth.
But they both entail having an "eye" for "form" , which is the critical thing. It's like design - it's the key thing with many products and the craft work of actually making it, quite secondary
Do you have any photos of your own carvings?
er, stretching it a bit! Mind you there are some hideous examples of "restoration" in other craft trades. e.g. old buildings often get kicked to death and end up scrubbed clean of character.
What is "carving proper". Aren't you already doing it?
have you looked at buying some lime wood bowl blanks? that might be a good starting point, yandles sell them for good prices.Apart from the first two or three first years cabinet-making, I scavenged all my timber, from many sources where it would otherwise have ended up landfilled, burnt or just abandoned. I still have a goodly amount down in the store ..... but found myself bereft of lime and other timbers generally recommended as easier to carve. Hence my question about MDF. But this thread has persuaded me that I'm much better off using possibilities from my hardwood stores, even if they isn't as forgiving (to me or the tools) as lime, jelutong and so forth.
Since I moved house and to a very different sort of area, I now find that scrap wood is not so common (the population density is very low) but there's a lot of green timber available (many more trees in this sparsely populated area too). That was one of several reasons why I began at the greenwood spoons, bowls, shrink pots and other treen - which in turn has stimulated a yen to be brave and try carving-proper.
So, perhaps I'll make more effort to scavenge carving wood that's dried, suitable etcetera. If I still had the big bandsaw I had to give up when moving to a smaller workshop, I'd likely try sawing up large green logs. Perhaps I need to find a bandsaw-owning friend.
Ah yes ..... but this is good for the likes o' me, who will sidle up to the "restorers" and filch the stuff they're ripping out and tossing at a large bonfire 'round the back. The place I moved from had a large number of Georgian and Victorian buildings, from huge mills to posh wee town houses. It was always a mix of horror and a pleasurable anticipation to see one being "remodelled". Sidle-sidle, I would go, up to them with a winning smile.
Well, there are many carving traditions. But those that are dominant in the public eye-mind tend to be relief and in-the-round carvings in which the carving itself is regarded as the essence. In carving repeating motives along the corners and edges of furniture, or shaping spoons and bowls, something else is regarded as the essence - their utility, with any decorative effects regarded as secondary.
I'll look there - and at another place mentioned up-thread - although my assumption that lime or similar would be necessary to the learning of formal carving techniques has faded a bit after this thread.
