Basswood

[Rich Aldrich]

I know people use bass wood to carve, but is it rather plain wood? My brother has about 40 basswood trees on his property. He plans to cut them next year. He offered me one for turning.

If it doesnt have much grain character, I was thinking this is a prime opportunity to try spalting. It should spalt rather quickly, 3 to 6 weeks I would think.

Anyone with experience or thoughts?

[Steve Schlumpf]

No experience with the wood Rich - but in addition to spalting you could always dye it!

[Reed Gray]

Well, if you ever had any desire to try an Andi Wolfe style carving, this would be excellent wood to experiment with. I never have had a chance to try some out.

robo hippy

[Reed Gray]

Well, if you ever had any desire to try an Andi Wolfe style carving, this would be excellent wood to experiment with. I never have had a chance to try some out. There could be some commercial value to the wood, so look around before falling the trees.

robo hippy

[Greg Just]

Basss wood is pretty plain unless you can get some crotch wood. As Steve mentioned, you call always dye it.

[Frank Drew]

Basswood would take color from a dye or stain, but IMO it wouldn't be any more attractive; there's nothing going on with the grain that would be highlighted by a finish (again, IMO.)

It does work easily by both hand and machine, isn't expensive, and is often available in large-ish sizes; I've used it often as a secondary wood because a local sawyer had it at a good price.

[Chris Stolicky]

I recently learned that it is a nice wood to use for ornaments. Its lightweight and cuts real easy. Plus, its plain color lends itself to coloring/staining/dying...

But yes, it is a plain wood. Less sharpening though.

[Rich Aldrich]

Thanks for the help. I think I will try some to see what I can do with it.

I think I will try some spalting and dye. Ornaments are a really good idea.

[Rich Aldrich]

Well, if you ever had any desire to try an Andi Wolfe style carving, this would be excellent wood to experiment with. I never have had a chance to try some out. There could be some commercial value to the wood, so look around before falling the trees.

robo hippy

I do have some carving tools that my uncle gave me, so that is worth a try.

There is a forester that works for one of the sawmills that says Basswood is worth qutie a chunk of change as an export. He didnt know who is buying it, but he has a good contact to sell the wood. He is supposed to get pricing for my brother. When we cut one for me, my brother wants the forester to look at it so he can give an educated estimate.

This forester is the same guy that bought our (my dad and I) hardwood logs back in 2006 just before the bottom dropped out of the market. My family is in logging so we try to keep an eye on the markets. Truely, we lucked out on this deal.