American Basswood

[Bobelee]

G'day all,

I'm from Brisbane and this my first post. To get going, I have an interest in whittling / carving. I have visited a number of sites regarding whittling and this basswood seems to be the the wood to use. Does anyone know where, if at all here in Aus, I can get my hands on some, if not, has anyone imported the small basswood kits ( 1kg.) available in the US? Do we have any wood here with the same density and straight grain that seems to be ideal for whittling wood?

Any info regarding the basswood would be greatly appreciated.

[petersemple]

Basswood is a popular guitar timber, so you may try luthier supply places for it

[floody_85]

I've searched for it for guitars before with no luck locally. It is available for import from the US but I haven't ordered any as yet

[dabbler]

I might be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure I saw some Basswood at Lazarides last week.

[Wizened of Oz]

Hello Bobelee
I have some small pieces of Basswood from a tree cut down here 5-6 years ago. Most pieces will have a little bluestain but should be fine for whittling. PM an address and I can send a 3kg parcel bag. Or if you are ever on the Sunshine Coast you could pick some up. I don't have any excuse to visit Brisbane in the near future.
From all my reading a popular Australian carving timber is White Beech (Gmelina leichardtii) and I have some small pieces of that from a tree I cut down here some years ago. You are welcome to some of that.
Mango is also a soft wood used for carving and I can find some pieces of that in my stashes.

[Robson Valley]

American Basswood is Tilia americana (fancy that!). It show very little grain structure and carves nicely in any direction.
But some of it is extraordinarily tough. Hard to tell until you try it. British Linden or Limewood is a closely related species.
The Asian wood, jelutong, is an equivalent for texture but very expensive and hard to find up here.
I've heard good things about your White Beech.
When your tools are really "carving sharp," you can manage with harder woods just thinner cuts and it takes longer.
I use almost nothing but western red cedar = soft and I'm not concerned with fine detail.

[dr4g0nfly]

When I read your post I was going to say exactly what Robson Valley said, Lime, Lindon, are all similar. But I'm not familiar with your Aus woods enough to suggest a local variant. Many sub-tropical trees are usable in the same way, bland almost non-existent grain pattern and fairly soft. Again as Robson says Jetutong, some mahoganies maybe even Ramin.

[Sebastiaan56]

Basswood is like rocking horse sh$t. There are vendors that will export to Australia but you take your chances with customs as it is an unprocessed product. Limewood costs about as much as rocking horse sh#t but Jelutong seems to be widely available. Still pricey for what it is but hey. that's the market. White Beech carves well but there is a dark horse. Merbau from hardware stores can be quite workable. Depending where you are Camphor Laurel, Poplar and particularly Red Cedar are worth a try. Where in Aus are you? these timbers are pretty available on the east coast, I have no idea what WA carvers use.

[Robson Valley]

There's absolutely no reason to expect that every piece of basswood will be carving wood.
Trees just don't grow like that. Ever. In that respect, all woods are the same.
I have basswood from 15 x 15cm to 10 x 30cm. Maybe 80cm pieces. Some is crap.
I have expensive Alaskan Yellow Cedar 15 x 15 cm and up. Some is crap.
So is some of my mahogany, alder and birch.

If a wood buyer knows what craft wood looks like and works like, you're safe.

I've carved almost nothing but western red cedar for years.
Honestly, 20% of my carving starts go into the fire.
The grain or the hardness or the brittleness makes charcoal, every time.
More than half the battle was "learning the wood." That was 5 years.
Consequently, I've learned not to fall in love with every start.
I can tell, within a couple of days, it it will fly or not.
I finish 5-10 carvings per year, probably 3-4 that I really like.

[whitewood]

G'day all,

I'm from Brisbane and this my first post. To get going, I have an interest in whittling / carving. I have visited a number of sites regarding whittling and this basswood seems to be the the wood to use. Does anyone know where, if at all here in Aus, I can get my hands on some, if not, has anyone imported the small basswood kits ( 1kg.) available in the US? Do we have any wood here with the same density and straight grain that seems to be ideal for whittling wood?

Any info regarding the basswood would be greatly appreciated.

I have been off line in hospital for a week + and only found your post today.

Paulownia would be a good substitute. Goggle for a source near you. The main outlets for Australian grown, kiln dried Paulownia are in Melbourne or the Gold Coast

Whitewood