# Carving Mulberry today :-)



## twoclones

I love carving Mulberry logs  It cuts nice, cracks less than pine or cedar, and after about 3 months it turns the perfect brown for bears or Native American faces. This one is freshly carved with a coat of oil and stands 5' tall. His sign will be carved on Friday.


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## Tazfreak

twoclones said:


> I love carving Mulberry logs  It cuts nice, cracks less than pine or cedar, and after about 3 months it turns the perfect brown for bears or Native American faces. This one is freshly carved with a coat of oil and stands 5' tall. His sign will be carved on Friday.



Great looking bear,how long u been carving ? Bet u can sell every piece u make


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## twoclones

Tazfreak said:


> Great looking bear,how long u been carving ? Bet u can sell every piece u make



Thanks. Been carving for 5 1/2 years. It seems that everything does eventually sell but it's often the piece I'm not very proud of which sells first. Art is odd that way...


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## blackoak

I tried to carve a bear once and it started out being a 5 footer and when I was finally done it was about 3 foot tall. When my wife came home from work I showed it to her and her reply was" that's a real cute pig you carved" LOL. I pitched in in with the rest of my fire wood and that ended my bear carving career. I can carve a pretty mean mushroom.


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## twoclones

Nice! The texture on those morels is pretty cool. I'd like to see a closeup of that.


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## Ax-man

Nice work on the bear. I never gave Mulberry much thought about how it would be to carve .I'll have to give it a try as we have some straight logs in the wood pile now. I am on my third or fourth attempt at carving a bear. I am getting there. 

Ever try Pear wood for carving??? It is a featureless wood to me as far as showing off grain and the color isn't so great but it is a very stable wood . Hardly cracks at all. I made a mallet out of green Pear wood on the lathe and it has not warped or checked since I made it. Even the small mushrooms I turned on the lathe have not checked like the other woods I have been experimenting with. 

I like those morels Black Oak. I have been making similar looking ones for an upcoming local festival hoping to sell them along with some benches at a the big craft sale that goes on during the festival.


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## twoclones

I have not tried pear wood. 
The weather here is VERY dry getting about 1/10 the rainfall and humidity as Illinois and having a great effect on wood. Generally, fruit woods look great but go to pieces when large carvings are kept outdoors here. 

I did work on some pine slabs yesterday in hopes of getting a little Infidel Pride going


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## Ax-man

I have to agree with you on the fruit wood . I had a large Apple tree that I milled for bench slabs. Looked good till the defects started showing up and the checking as it dried out. This tree had been in our wood pile for three years before I milled it. Even the little mushrooms I turned on the lathe checked in a short time despite the sealer and finish coat I put on them. I have done a little with Cherry but I am finding out that this is also a so so wood subject to checking . 

Back onto the subject of mushrooms. I haven't done it but was wondering if drilling a hole through the middle on the bottom would slow down splitting of the wood?? The pith dries the slower than the outside sapwood layers . Drilling a hole in the center might give that mouisture a way out through the center verses drying to the outside layers.

Nice signs by the way. Got to give you credit on this one also. I have tried to carve signs also but it just doesn't look as nice as yours do. I have been finding out that I have a heavy hand on the saw when it comes to this carving. I am trying to take too much and too fast when I attempt to do the finer detail work . I am changing my approach by not being so aggressive with the saw and using a lighter touch. My carving has improved but still have a ways to go.


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