Carving Tip 3

While I carve many different types of woods, carving cedar has been one of the things I have become most known for. I carve a lot of cedar for several reasons.
(1) It is a very common wood in the area I live.
(2) I love the contrast between the white (sap) wood and the red (heart). This contrast makes each piece I carve from it wholly unique.
(3) When carving cedar, the shop quickly fills with the pleasant smell which red cedar is known for.

Below I give a little pictorial advice and tips for picking out cedar to carve, cutting it for carving, and finishing it for display.      Hopefully some of you will be inspired to try carving this wonderful wood yourselves.

The trees shown here are what I primarily look for in identifying good carving potential. Notice that these trees are relatively clear of limbs for the first 8 to 10 feet from the ground. Most of the faces I carve are approximately 14 inches long. This means I can average getting about 7 to 10 faces out of every tree. The tops are generally cut off and piled into brushpiles for later burning.

Here is a stack of logs, some ripped and some not. Hopefully this will give you some perspective on how I rip these logs to get them ready to carve. I look over each log before ripping it so that I can identify which side has the most knots. I discard the knotty side because knots are hard to carve through and often have a lot of swirling, uneven grain around them.

This is the entrance to the glade where I normally cut my cedar. I am really fortunate to have such a relatively easy access to a place like this. Most of the trees I cut off of this land are those that have been blown over by storms and need to come out anyway. So, while I'm getting the carving wood I need, the owner of this land is also getting some of his storm debris cleaned up.

This picture of the end of the log shows what an ideal log for carving looks like. Notice that there is quite a large red (heart) area, surrounded by good, solid, though shallow white (sap) wood. This means I won't have to carve very far into the log before the contrasting colors start appearing. And since the sap wood is good and solid it will carve very nicely.

I use a 3/4 inch resawing blade on my 14 inch Delta bandsaw to rip cut the logs I want to carve. The 3/4 inch blade is nice for this job because it makes a fairly straight cut and doesn't tend to "walk" with the grain changes. I can't stress enough that there is an element of danger in using a bandsaw to do this type of work. Be sure and have a good grip on the log and all your wits about you while cutting. A bandsaw blade this big will take a finger off before you know it.

As you can see by this picture, each log has it's own characteristics. Some have more heart wood than others. Some have a "streaking" effect because of the irregular shape of the inner heart wood. Each log will present it's own challenges and rewards. Cedar can be somewhat brittle to carve, so take care to follow the grain closely and get a feel for what it will and won't take. It is relatively stable compared to other softwoods; therefore, provided that your tools are sharp, it holds detail well even when cutting across the grain.

I like to finish my cedar carvings with a natural finish. I use the sanding attachment and drill to smooth up the back of the split log and to lightly remove the loose bark. I use a small piece of very fine sandpaper to lightly sand the carved surfaces, not enough to remove the carving marks, just enough to prepare the wood to take a finish evenly. Once I spray the first coat of clear gloss lacquer, I let it dry for about an hour or more. I then lightly rub it with #0000 steel wool to smooth up the grain which has raised after the first coat. I then spray the carving with about 2 more coats, allowing about an hour of drying between them. This leaves the carving nice and smooth, needing only an occasional feather dusting to maintain its beauty.

I hope this little feature on cedar has gotten some of you interested in trying to carve it yourselves. Some areas of the country have more of it available than others. I wish I could cut enough of it to be able to provide some for others to carve but I just don't have the space available to store it, nor the time to cut that much of it. A quick search on the internet will probably provide many of you with a source for good cedar logs if you don't have a place nearby to cut your own.
I love carving cedar, it provides me with a challenge each time. Each face I carve from it seems to have it's own personality and unique look. Every time I pick up a new log I am anxious to meet the face that it will hold.