# Old Bird Carver, New to Basswood



## torpidihummer (Apr 29, 2013)

Hi folks, my favorite carving projects are carving birds of prey, I have been using
Tupelo on all of my projects. Since I live in California, the Tupelo Blocks I have 
receiving from an old source have been horribly hard and wide grained. I tried
other suppliers with the same results. I decided to use Basswood of which purchased
from Heineke Wood Products, I purchased two blocks to see how it carves with power
tools. The wood worked out fine except for a whole lot of sawdust, now I'm wondering
how the feather burning process will work, any bird carvers out their that can give me 
some tips on the feather barb burning?
Thanks a lot,
Oscar


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## Dark_Lightning (Nov 20, 2009)

Feathers burn fine on basswood, based on what I have observed in my woodcarving class. I'm currently carving a wood spirit in tupelo, and I can assure you that I won't be using it again, once my pieces run out. It is way too hard, and grainy. I went to Woodcraft, and that was all they had at the time. I think it would be good for power carving (which I am not doing, yet), but I really don't like it for hand carving. YMMV. I bought a block and resawed it, so at least I didn't get burned for cost.


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