Carving Wood
Basswood (Tilia americana) - Canada
Very popular for general carving as well as for bird, fish and animal carving because of cost and carvability. Easily carved with sharp edge tools, it can be easily worked with power tools, too. All of our Basswood is top quality Canadian-grown Basswood. Available in slabs or blocks from 1" thick to 4" thick. We sometimes have thicker basswood blocks up to 6" thick available. Priced at $9.75-$17.40 per board foot (depending on thickness).
Tupelo (Nyssa aquatica) - USA
Tupelo is the wood of choice for many competitive carvers, including many world champions. While Tupelo can be worked with hand tools, it is more often worked with power tools. It is very light weight, sands very smooth, and takes very fine detail well. Also works very well for woodburning. It's available in a very wide variety of sizes, including blocks up to 7" thick, making it very popular for larger carvings. We have an excellent selection on hand. Priced at $17.50-$22.50 per board foot (depending on thickness).
Butternut (Juglans cinerea) - Canada
A very beautiful wood, easily carved by hand or power tool. Butternut is a member of the Walnut family. It has gorgeous grain, making it very popular for natural finish carvings. Butternut has become more difficult to source over the past several years, but we have a very good supply on hand in a wide variety of sizes, including some live-edge slabs. $15.00 per board foot. Contact us for details.
Alaskan Yellow Cedar (Cupressus nootkatensis) - Canada
We recently began carrying Alaskan Yellow Cedar. This popular west-coast wood is available in a wide variety of sizes from wide 1" thick planks to large carving blocks up to 8" or more thick. A very plain-grained wood, it carves beautifully with sharp tools and takes detail very well. $15.00 per board foot.
Aromatic Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) - Canada
We have 1" and 2" Aromatic cedar in stock up to 8" wide. Aromatic cedar carves easily with hand or power tools and its rich red-brown grain is ideal for natural-finish projects. $15.00 per board foot.
Gmelina (Gmelina arborea) - Asia, Central America
While not very well-known in North America, Gmelina has been a very popular carving wood in Asian countries for centuries (one of the best-know Gmelina carvings is the Lion Throne of Burma). It carves well with both hand and power tools and has a moderate grain - more visible than basswood but not as bold as butternut. We have Gmelina on hand in 4" blocks, mostly 6" wide, priced at $15.00 per board foot.
Cottonwood Bark (Populus trichocarpa) - Canada
Cottonwood bark has become very popular for carving faces and fantasy projects like bark houses and more. It is probably the easiest material to carve and is great for beginners or those who find it difficult to carve more traditional woods. Our standard bark is between 1-2" thick in a wide variety of widths, locally sourced, dry and sound. Priced at $10.00 per pound. Only available in Canada, sorry - we cannot ship it outside of Canada.
Gaboon Ebony (Diospyros crassiflora) - Sudan
One of the most amazing woods in the world. Very dark, mostly black, heavy and very hard. Incredible grain! Carves nicely with carbide and diamond burs and takes an incredible finish by simply polishing it. Great for intarsia, turning, jewelry and many more uses. We have a supply of ebony logs on hand in diameters ranging from 1" to 3 or 4", and lengths up to 40". All logs have had the outer sapwood removed. There is some checking present in many of the logs which is easily stabilized with epoxy. Sold by the pound, with prices range from $5.50 to $10.50 per pound for logs and up to $17.50 per pound for cut pieces. ONLY AVAILABLE IN CANADA - SORRY WE CANNOT SHIP EBONY OUTSIDE OF CANADA.
Please phone or email for more information about what we have available.