[Woodcarver] Carving "terribly dry and crumbly" wood

[Merrilee Johnson]

Thanks Jim!  Bette has a reciprocating gouge - I will try that before doing anything else.  

Tell Chris hi!  and see ya soon!

Merrilee  
 

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I have successfully used a reciprocating gouge (Ryobi ) on punky driftwood.  like an electric knife cuts right through angle food cake where a butcher knife just compress's it, the reciprocating gouge goes smoothly through the punky wood. perhaps this will work for you.
 
another thought is from a guy in Florida that saturates construction grade pine 2x4s with marine varnish to make it stable, then carves miniatures 1 to2 inches high from it. It doesn't penetrate real deep so he has to  constantly re varnish as he cuts away the wood. in his case he is trying to have a very strong but flexible wood structure left so it won't break (such as flower stems or peoples legs arms) and marine varnish is flexible compared to other finishes, yet "stiff" enough to carve.. 
 
Jim O'Dea



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