Wood suitable for carving

I've used Bog wood which I purchased from an aquarium store. Darned hard stuff but deep brown in colour. In all the years I have never really gotten into this type of style. I have some nice sapling (very wippy) C. Junipers and thought I would go for it.

May I ask your advice on the right deadwood to use and where best to obtain it? UK South West based.

Thanks in advance.

Mike

Depends really on what you want to carve. Sounds like you want a piece for phoenix grafting onto?

I can recommend Yew, if you can locate an old tree that has some dead wood. I've been really lucky to find some huge branches below limestone cliffs. They had stood getting weather beaten, probably for decades after dying and are bleached grey-white and iron hard.

A good alternative would be Juniper. You may find a nice shaped one in a skip, if you don't mind dumpster diving. Council garden waste skips sometimes have remarkable things in them! A recently dug one is easier to strip bark and carve, than one that has died and dried out.

Thank you Sire. Yes PG was what I had in mind. Oh well, dumpster diving it is then

Mike

Kev Bailey wrote: Council garden waste skips sometimes have remarkable things in them! A recently dug one is easier to strip bark and carve, than one that has died and dried out.

Ah! The trick is to get to the council blokes before they dig them up!

Seriously though, I've tried carving some mopani wood before. I don't know if it's different to bog wood, it seems to be something similar but with a lighter colour to it. I have a load left over from my days in the aquarium hobby. I never got round to attaching a whip, gave up half through as the stuff was so darned hard to cut through! I'd imagine it wouldn't rot away anytime soon though if used in tanuki, probably no need to preserve it in any way.

Richard