Pine is a worthwhile wood for carving: It's readily available in a variety of species; many times, it will be the economical choice of wood, and with sharp tools can yield a rewarding carving experience.
What you don’t know about – Pine
Balance
It's that time of year when I must produce. Whether for a show, to rebuild inventory, or finish pieces held in shop Limbo by my obstinacy about completing pieces I am not a hundred percent happy with.
Ash
This is the time of year I am busy stacking firewood and preparing balks of wood for future use as bowls, cutting boards, and bowls. This fall, I am particularly busy preparing bowl and cutting board stock from a supply of ash that came my way.
Paper and Scissors
I found the wood sitting in the shorts at my favorite hardwood dealer. It was very dark, heavy, and dense. It was mahogany but so dark and heavy that I felt it was a wayward piece of Dominican, not Honduran. It was just what I wanted.
Forgotten Tools
Every craft has a few tools that seem so insignificant and ordinary that we pass over them when discussing how we work.
Thoughts on Wood – Pine
Pine is terrific to carve is you are mindful of its character and use sharp tools.
Stability
A while ago, I read an article in the New York Times on how artwork produced in the past seventy years was disintegrating rapidly. The deterioration was due to impermanent pigments, aging materials, and chemical conflicts between elements in a mixed media artwork. Some things were never meant to last forever, and others were never intended to be together in art.
Curly
Smoothing curly grain or decoratively knotted wood can always be an issue in carving. Cabinet makers have tricks with scrapers and planes, but they generally are not working in the tight spaces that a carver has. This spoon was a particular issue.
Progress
The world of woodworking is full of handbooks, videos, manuals, and magazines that aver to show you the best way to do things.
Schooner
I posted on using cement on the end grain of a small schooner I was working on a while ago. The logic was that this particular carving would have lots of unsupported end-grain prone to breakage while I was carving.
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