Holly & carving

[oak sprite]

Hello i am a new poster to this forum .....may i ask is holly ok for carving spoons.

 

[Fat ferret]

Morning. Don't see why not but have a look here. http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52897

A ton of info on that forum about carving and the thread I have linked is about which woods are food safe and which are toxic. If you can't find any reference to holly, it wasn't on first page you could join and post on the thread someone will know. Nice forum to post on and be a part of too.

 

[Fat ferret]

Read a bit further and it lists holly as toxic. Maybe find some beech or sycamore to carve your spoons from.

 

[bugbear]

Holly is also fairly hard.

BugBear

 

[oak sprite]

Read a bit further and it lists holly as toxic. Maybe find some beech or sycamore to carve your spoons from.

thanks for your reply...i have some sycamore in the garage and will give it a try.

 

[dickm]

Holly toxic? Surprised at that, and a quick scan of t'web suggests no reports of toxicity. But it's b****y hard!

 

[Racers]

Carves well when green! I have made a couple of spoons and I don't remember it being difficult.


Pete

 

[Cheshirechappie]

From 'World Woods in Colour' by William Lincoln - page 292, 'Table of Uses'.

Woods used for Food and Laundry containers - Canadian Aspen, Basswood, American Beech, European Beech, Japanese Beech, Cedar, Horse Chestnut, American White Elm, Guanacaste (never heard of that one!), Rock Maple, Soft Maple, Silver Ash, Silver Beech, Sycamore and Tasmanian Myrtle.

Uses for Holly include Carving and Sculpture, Inlays and Brushbacks, Musical Instruments and Turnery. (I also happen to know that it was used as a substitute for boxwood in making engraver's printing blocks.)

 

[Sean Hellman]

Lovely wood to carve green, as has been said it does get a wee bit harder when dry, but so does maple, beech, box etc. If you do sand it go through the grits, wet and resand, it comes up with the perfect smooth surface, almost slips out of the hands smooth.