Types Of Wood For Carving

[jerrbitt]

I've been asked to make a sign for the country club of which I'm a member so it's a gratis job. But one member donated the wood -- a piece of Pecan of which I've never used. I do know from a web search that it is about 40 per cent harder than Red Oak. I know with plastic the CW has depth limitations and wonder whether the extreme hardness of this Pecan means to be extra careful about the depth of the carving. Anybody have experience to answer this please?

And while I'm at it, what are the recommended choices of hardwoods for carving? I've done mostlly red and white oak and some Walnut. Hear that Cherry produces fine results.

Maye we need a survey with explanantions of why your choice is recommended.

[castingman]

jerrbitt,

The woods yoy have posted all carve well , i have done alot of cherry with good results. I have also used hard maple and it carves well also. I have some wood called cebil , i just finished building a table out of it and it is heavy and i broke more screws than i ever have , Drilled pilot holes , soaped the threads, every thing , put the screw in [ snap ] . i was going to carve on the leftovers but i changed my mind.
Let us know how the pecan works, I don't think you will have a problem .
Michael

[AskBud]

Cebil wood also called “Patagonian Rosewood”.

[castingman]

Thats the stuff; Have you ever tryed it ?If so some pointers would be welcome, Great looking wood.

Michael

[AskBud]

Never used it. I just looked it up on this site.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8068169
AskBud

[Jossef]

What about purple heart or cocbolo?

[castingman]

Purple heart carves great too, don't know about cocbolo , made some pens with it but thats all.

Michael

[Lin]

I can tell you from experience that pecan carves fine and the machine can handle it.
I had to take light passes with my planer with the pecan but I carved this piece at .400 depth with no problems...the machine didn't even sound like it was working any harder than when I carved the same file in pine.
Lin

[ncamp]

Here is a link to a wood hardness chart:

http://www.dolphincarpet.com/content.php?content_id=1010

On the Janka Hardnes Scale:
Black Walnut 1010
Red Oak 1260
American Beech 1300
White Oak 1360
Hard Maple 1450
Wenge 1630
Pecan 1820
Purpleheart 1860
Brazilian Cherry 2820

Pecan is about like Purple Heart. I have used a lot of Purpleheart and Brazilian Cherry, so I would not hesitate to use Pecan (If I could find some).

[DocWheeler]

ncamp,

Thanks for the link.

[LollyWood]

I like the chart, give a great heads up for depth set up. Thanks for posting it.

Question: What about Redheart, or Bloodwood?

I love the rich colors and have some projects in mind. But I also know it's pretty dense.

Thanks, :)

[ncamp]

This one has Bloodwood:
http://www.thevirtualshowroom.com/HWD/SldWd/SWMisc/hardwood_hardness_chart.htm

Bloodwood 3300

And here is a more comprehensive pdf at:
http://www.oldtoolsshop.com/galoots/slongley/Misc/Wood-Hardness-Chart.pdf

[jerrbitt]

Well I finished my sign using pecan and the Carvewright handled the hardness very well. In fact it carved very well with no featherning.

Stained it and I thought it turned out pretty well except for one small part of one of the patterns where I hit a unseen worm hole.

[Kenm810]

jerrbitt,

Good Job,
Nice crisp Text on a Nice looking piece of Pecan

[shabby]

Really nice sign, Jerrbitt. How did you keep the lettering so crisp?

I have a hard time "coloring" in my text. Is there a secret or do you just have a very steady hand?

Thanx!

[jerrbitt]

Thanks for the comments.

The text is raster and set at a depth of .170 and height of 100. Also I set the Carving - Draft function to small. Perhaps, the hardness of the wood - Pecan - contributed to the letters staying intact.

Since the letters are raised slightly, it was not difficult to use a broad tip Sharpie and color the letters. And definitely no do I have a steady hand, particularly at age 70.

[DocWheeler]

This (http://www.advantagelumber.com/janka.htm) got my attention since it displays the woods a little differently.
Poplar is becoming less interesting to me now!

[PCW]

This (http://www.advantagelumber.com/janka.htm) got my attention since it displays the woods a little differently.
Poplar is becoming less interesting to me now!

Doc

That's is a very interesting hardness scale. Thanks