What I see in Designer, is Not what I Get...

[HandTurnedMaple]

Handturnmaple - Thanks so much for the suggestions for location. Once I get to a store, what exactly should I look for? All I have typically ever worked with is Pine, Oak, Walnut, Maple and Aspen...

You are asking a potentially big question here. Have ever purchased hardwood before at any place other than a home improvement store? In other words, are you familiar with board feet?

[Dan-Woodman]

Some of the clear pine that Home Depot carries carves pretty well.
You do get some fuzzing on the end grain,but it sands off rather nice I usually use a sandind sponge and sometimes I use sanding sealer first , the sand the fuzzies.

[HandTurnedMaple]

Here is the Chicago Bear. I did a 4" and a 2". The 2" is just too small considering the bit is 1/16" across.

[Hanna]

How do you sand without removing detail? And what do you do about fuzzies in the crevices? I got a small steel brush and that seems to work ok, but is there a better way?

[menewfy]

Some of the clear pine that Home Depot carries carves pretty well.
You do get some fuzzing on the end grain,but it sands off rather nice I usually use a sandind sponge and sometimes I use sanding sealer first , the sand the fuzzies.

I have wondered have you stained anything from home depot. I was going to use thier wood, but i figured out that they glue the wood together especially if it is 12 inches wide. I was then told that the joints where the wood is joined would soak up more stain and it would not look right.

i will tell you that where I live the select pine from home depot is 3.10 per board foot. yesterday I found a saw mill that will sell it to me for 1.75 per board foot and that is planned on two sides top and bottom. i am not going to worry about the sides cause i will cut it to size anyway.

and the best part it is one piece of wood so it will stain well and it will mostly be close grain cause it order to get it that wide it will have to be mostly from the center of the tree.

just my thoughts i would reccomend people look around oh yeah and one more thing wood that big is hard to come by so buy what you can.

[Jon Jantz]

Pruitts...

I took that project and re-worked it because I was wanting to experiment with several techniques... it turned out pretty decent so I thought I'd share it with you in case you want to try to carve it...

On the project, I increased the carving depth to .5 then went to like 200 on the height... it gives it more relief. You could back it down to .25 if you wanted to not have to carve so much wood...

Good luck...

[Dan-Woodman]

Menewfy
I have stained the clear pine from Home Depot,it's beautiful.
I do not however use the glued up #2 pine panals. Too many knots, glue joints, and sap.
You can also try a brass bristle brush.

[menewfy]

good to know thanks

[HandTurnedMaple]

If you can find a piece of select that's more than 11 1/4" wide made out of a single piece of wood, you are extremely lucky. Given that Boise brand wood is the most common in home improvement stores, and that I am surrounded by the Boise National Forest, you can believe me when I say the trees just aren't big enough to produce lumber that wide consistently. In the modern world, wide boards have to be created by jointing smaller pieces together. That said, I never buy commercial glue-up panels because they do not bother with grain matching. I set all of mine up using the DowelMax, being careful to not put a dowel where a carving will expose it.

If you can see the joint after staining a commercial panel, its because of poor grain matching. But the joint itself should pose no problems.

[pkunk]

If you can find a piece of select that's more than 11 1/4" wide made out of a single piece of wood, you are extremely lucky. Given that Boise brand wood is the most common in home improvement stores, and that I am surrounded by the Boise National Forest, you can believe me when I say the trees just aren't big enough to produce lumber that wide consistently. In the modern world, wide boards have to be created by jointing smaller pieces together. That said, I never buy commercial glue-up panels because they do not bother with grain matching. I set all of mine up using the DowelMax, being careful to not put a dowel where a carving will expose it.

If you can see the joint after staining a commercial panel, its because of poor grain matching. But the joint itself should pose no problems.

I've been glueing up panels for half a lifetime and never use dowels, bisquits, or glue joints. The glue is stronger than the wood! Those crutches are for alignment. BTW, if you want wide pine, I have a bunch of primo 6/4 & 8/4 sugar pine in widths from 14 to 18" with only a few knots.
It's not as hard to find as one would think if you have a good supplier. Not at HD or Lowes, though.