Janel
Registered: Nov 28, 2004
Posts: 117
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| | Nov 28, 2004 at 12:10 PM | Reply with quote | #1 |
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Through email from my web site, I receive inquiries about materials and for sources for boxwood especially. An additional main question topic is about tools for carving.
There is hope on my part that this forum might help answer questions for those who have them, and that I might not be the only one answering the questions.
There are many talented carvers around the world with much to offer one another and to the new and hopeful carvers as well.
The work we do with netsuke and okimono (small sculptures) is important, and through the internet people are learning about it around the world. Every contribution to increase the visibility of netsuke and okimono will help us to keep doing the carving that we love to do!
I look forward to reading contributions here.
Janel
p.s. Spell check does not know "okimono" either... ; )
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Clive
Registered: Nov 29, 2004
Posts: 141
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| | Nov 29, 2004 at 03:43 AM | Reply with quote | #2 |
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Hi Janel,
I recently acquired the bill of a swordfish while on holiday in Portugal.
Its still a bit smelly and is drying out the moment, but a few experiments have shown it to have potential as a carving material, it has a very hard outer layer that will take a high polish and has some wonderful colour.
Clive
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dougsanders
Registered: Nov 29, 2004
Posts: 24
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| | Nov 29, 2004 at 08:45 AM | Reply with quote | #3 |
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Thanks go to everyone involved for helping to get this forum up and running! Thanks Janel, for extending my boxwood question to a larger audience- I will hopefully be getting a supply in December when my wife goes to England to visit her family. For any UK carvers, Hexhamshire Hardwoods, in Whitley Chapel (just outside of Hexham) in Northumberland County has a fantastic supply of harwoods suitable for carving, as well as horn and various nuts.
On a ship model-building forum I read where someone mentioned using lemonwood as a substitute for boxwood. I picked up a piece at a local wood supplier and have tried it. There is a more pronounced grain pattern(alternating yellow and brown), but the growth rings are tight and dense. Not as strong in all directions as boxwood, but a nice wood nonetheless for certain applications.
Regards, Doug Sanders
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Janel
Registered: Nov 28, 2004
Posts: 117
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| | Nov 29, 2004 at 09:24 PM | Reply with quote | #4 |
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Hi Clive and Doug!
What a curious bit of material that sounds like! Is it colored? Might you try to de-scent it with something?
Doug, greetings! I am so glad that you found a good supply of boxwood. If I refer carvers to that resource, is there an internet address one might use to contact the supplier? I do not know if it is correct to post phone numbers or addreses here, so if you have that sort of information, send it to me privately so that I might have it on hand for inquiries. Do you know if they will ship internationally?
About lime wood, a recent wood used by another email carver who recently contacted me. Is that from a lime tree? and is lemon from a lemon tree? My father has those growing in his yard in Arizona...
Doug and anyone else, I would like to invite you to see the Artists Forum. I have suggested that we all introduce ourselves there, and that will be where the replies will be made.
Janel
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Clive
Registered: Nov 29, 2004
Posts: 141
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dougsanders
Registered: Nov 29, 2004
Posts: 24
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| | Nov 30, 2004 at 07:43 AM | Reply with quote | #6 |
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About the lemonwood... Janel, I always thought lime wood was more similar to basswood; though a term used more often in Europe. I think it was what the great English carver Grinling Gibbons utilized. If anyone hasn't seen his work, please go to your local library and check out a few books. Luscious seventeenth century still-lives of wheat, poppies, dead game... If limewood=basswood, it may be too soft for netsuke carving. There are people I've seen at shows who carve miniature in basswood, with roto-tools, but I reckon any detail will wear off quickly and it feels too light in the hand to be satisfying.
The lemonwood I purchased was very dense with narrow growth rings and a nice grain pattern. On the flip side, it was much drier than boxwood and flaked/chipped some if you weren't paying attention to the direction of your knife. I carved a little sparrow ojime out of it and now I'm pinching myself because I didn't take a photo of it before it sold. Maybe I'll track down the buyer...
I'll get you the phone number of Hexhamshire Hardwoods- they don't have a web presence. They deal mostly in hardwoods for construction- you drive up the mud soaked road past huge oak and chestnut trunks to an aluminum barn stacked with shelves of wood billets from around the world. I haven't yet phoned to have them set aside a few pieces, so if the story changes I'll update everyone. I say this as about a year ago the young guy there left to teach scuba in Bermuda (better than a muddy Northumbrian woodlot for some). So now to my knowledge there are just two old times running the business who might not want to deal with pen turners, bowl lathers, and the odd Yank netsuke carver like me pestering them about the finer points of Maccassar ebony.
-Doug
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Clive
Registered: Nov 29, 2004
Posts: 141
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| | Nov 30, 2004 at 08:40 AM | Reply with quote | #7 |
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The number for Hexhamshire Hardwoods is 01434 673528.If you're dialing international, drop the 0....0044 1434 673528
The very finest English Boxwood is supplied by Mr Aubrey though.Getting hold of him is difficult and I don't think he exports.If anybody is interested in getting some of his wood give me a PM.
Clive
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tomsterling
Registered: Dec 04, 2004
Posts: 3
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| | Dec 04, 2004 at 08:17 PM | Reply with quote | #8 |
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Hi Gang,
Just joined the forum! Saw the materials post, and have an answer about lime wood. It comes from the Linden tree (Europe) and is a close cousin to American Basswood. I consider basswood to be psuedocellulose...lots of carvers like it because it's soft and easy to carve with knives and gouges, but it's very fuzzy when used with power tools, isn't strong, has bland figure and color and won't last long being handled as often as netsuke are.
The boxwood I use I picked up in England in the mid-80s, when a large estate cut down some several hundred year old hedges. I also have some I ordered here from a hardwood store in the US. Although the box I ordered is quite nice, the English boxwood is far superior, much smoother, tighter grained and just a joy to use. I hoard it and use it only for very special carvings like netsuke. I've used an awful lot of different hard and soft woods, antler, shell, ivories, coral and I don't know what else. Boxwood is still the very nicest material I've used. Ivory comes in second, followed by antler.
So much for my $0.02.
Tom |
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Clive
Registered: Nov 29, 2004
Posts: 141
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dougsanders
Registered: Nov 29, 2004
Posts: 24
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| | Dec 06, 2004 at 06:43 AM | Reply with quote | #10 |
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There's a South American boxwood that I've ordered through one of the larger American woodworking chainstores (Rockler, I think). It was very soft, a whitish/oatmeal color and useless for carving. It may have been related to European varieties, but not very closely...
Another source of small pieces of boxwood (at a premium) is through some Asian art/craft suppliers. Boxwood is used for hanko (signature stamps or 'chops'). It can be purchased in small pre-cut and variously shaped forms- which is why it's pricier than a 'raw' piece of wood. I used it once and the feel was completely different than French and/or English box. Aiko's Art Supply in Chicago sells them.
-Doug
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DFogg
Registered: Nov 29, 2004
Posts: 9
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| | Dec 06, 2004 at 07:10 AM | Reply with quote | #11 |
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I was talking with Gilmer Woods and he mentioned having cocus wood that he stocked for netsuke carvers. Has anyone worked with this wood? Properties, workability, color etc?
Thanks.
Don
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Don
http://www.dfoggknives.com |
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Janel
Registered: Nov 28, 2004
Posts: 117
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| | Dec 06, 2004 at 08:07 AM | Reply with quote | #12 |
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Hi Don, good question!
I have used cocus wood for some of my carvings. The contrasting color between the sap wood/heartwood is very appealing to me.
Norm Sartorius, a sculptural spoon carver, gifts me with pieces of wood that suit my needs when they are too small for his work. Cocus wood is one of the contrasting color woods I have used. Oyster wood and African Blackwood are among the others that I enjoy using.
The dark heart wood of the three woods are all quite lovely and hard. This could allow for good detail if desired, though I often use the gloss of the polished dark wood to enhance the grain on a flowing surface, such as a long bean pod form. The lighter colored wood is not as dense as the dark wood, so the nature of the detail must take that into consideration. It is a good challenge with every carving to gain a sense of what each part of the wood can offer to the over all composition.
I really like to work the two colors of wood between the different aspects of the composition of the carving. The proportion of light to dark also plays a part in determining what the carving will become. I enjoy the mental exercises offered by these three woods.
As I recall, the softer yellow wood of the cocus wood was less able to work detail into. The dense heartwood was nice to work.
Janel
Here is a carving from Cocus wood:
Scarlet Runner Bean & Walking Stick, Cocuswood
http://www.janeljacobson.com/carvings/328.htmlAttached Images:
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"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!" ~ Goethe |
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DFogg
Registered: Nov 29, 2004
Posts: 9
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JimKelso
Registered: Nov 28, 2004
Posts: 18
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| | Dec 07, 2004 at 08:04 PM | Reply with quote | #14 |
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Hi gang. Here is a handy woodfinding site:
I can't get the hyperlink to work, but the address is <www.woodfinder.com>
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Janel
Registered: Nov 28, 2004
Posts: 117
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| | Dec 19, 2004 at 09:02 AM | Reply with quote | #15 |
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Holiday greetings to you all!
I recently received an email of introduction to Peter Welsh, a netsuke/small sculpture carver from the UK. He lives in the Cornwall area. He experiences some problems with AOL on his computer and cannot use forms so I have volunteered to post his contributions in the various areas of the Forum today:
In regards to Janel's question about lemonwood:
"re: Lemonwood. This is not from the lemon (fruit) tree, but from a South American tree. It is commonly used for longbows. Another name is castellano boxwood. It is not in the Buxus family as far as I am aware.....
re: Swordfish bill. I have used this material, but do not rate it highly. It is very difficult to remove all of the natural oils and fats from the almost hollow and porous interior. It does have it's uses for knife handles. It did not work for me as an inlay material either, due to the high oil content.
re: adhesives. There is a natural adhesive used by the Japanese to fit the ray-skin handle to the sword. It is made from pine resin and rapeseed oil. The two components, are available from http://www.namikawa-ltd.co.jp" . . . . . . . Peter Welsh
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