Exotic or Domestic Woods.

On the previous post I spoke about my latest hobby in carving Welsh Lovespoons. During the initial thought process I mulled over whether to use a domestic timber such as Maple, Poplar or Red Oak which are all readily available from your local Home Depot or Lowes. This was always an easy decision, drive down, select the board and come away with the material.

I also thought that a more exotic timber such as Padauk, Mahogany, Cocobolo and Rosewood would also make a very desirable carving. The trade off would be, visit a specialist lumber supplier or order on-line without first seeing the material. These suppliers of exotic timbers are not as common as say, your Home Depot! Nevertheless it would be nice to use something a little out of the ordinary.

Several other questions I had were, how would these timbers carve?
Did they have a tight straight grain or was it very open?

The answer to these questions would effect the overall finish as I wanted to use a natural paste wax to seal the finished Lovespoon. The look that I wanted for the Lovespoon should be as close to the natural color of the timber as possible.

Thinking back over the years I've used a lot of the more common timbers such as Maple, Oak and Mahogany but I wasn't too sure of exotics such as Padauk and Cocobolo.

This I decided would have to be worked out during the carving process.

On my next blog I'll talk about my findings on carving the more exotic timbers so far.