Wood Recommendation for Corbels
Quote from Deleted user on August 4, 2017, 12:49 amUnderstanding that a wood such as basswood is easy to carve in, but expensive - what would be a good cost effective wood for carving corbels that may start off as a 2 foot square glue up? In my locale (Georgia) Southern Yellow Pine is easy to come by but agreed difficult to work with. So what's a good alternative?
Understanding that a wood such as basswood is easy to carve in, but expensive - what would be a good cost effective wood for carving corbels that may start off as a 2 foot square glue up? In my locale (Georgia) Southern Yellow Pine is easy to come by but agreed difficult to work with. So what's a good alternative?
Quote from Matthew Mizner on August 4, 2017, 9:33 amAlder would be a good alternative. Also easy to carve and fairly cheap. If they only stock knotty alder, you can still cut up a board for knot free sections and still get a good glue up for a corbel.
Alder would be a good alternative. Also easy to carve and fairly cheap. If they only stock knotty alder, you can still cut up a board for knot free sections and still get a good glue up for a corbel.
Quote from MaryMay on August 4, 2017, 10:09 amQuestion - will these be outside? If you need to be concerned about weather and bugs, Spanish Cedar is very good option. Bugs hate it. The dust can be a bit nasty also, so it's not nice to sand. Carving is OK though. I believe it is more available in larger pieces, as this is used in many exterior situations such as windows. This would be a good alternative to use inside also. I have not priced this recently, and the cost may be comparable to basswood. Another option if you're just looking for availability is poplar. I do not like to carve in this, but after carving in Southern Yellow Pine, I would have actually preferred Poplar (I never thought I would ever say that). Butternut is a good option also if it doesn't need to be structural, but cost and availability may be a question there also. Wilcox wood (http://www.wilcoxcarvingwood.com/)sells both butternut and basswood in whatever size you need. Shipping sometimes costs more for the wood, though.
Question - will these be outside? If you need to be concerned about weather and bugs, Spanish Cedar is very good option. Bugs hate it. The dust can be a bit nasty also, so it's not nice to sand. Carving is OK though. I believe it is more available in larger pieces, as this is used in many exterior situations such as windows. This would be a good alternative to use inside also. I have not priced this recently, and the cost may be comparable to basswood. Another option if you're just looking for availability is poplar. I do not like to carve in this, but after carving in Southern Yellow Pine, I would have actually preferred Poplar (I never thought I would ever say that). Butternut is a good option also if it doesn't need to be structural, but cost and availability may be a question there also. Wilcox wood (http://www.wilcoxcarvingwood.com/)sells both butternut and basswood in whatever size you need. Shipping sometimes costs more for the wood, though.
Quote from Deleted user on August 5, 2017, 5:50 amExcellent advice. Thank you Ma'am.
To answer your question: I am finally putting together my shop after 25 years of "trying" and find the need for a lot of shelving to get everything in the garage off the floor (tools, paint cans, misc stuff).
I have been using iron pipe to support the shelving - expensive but looks good. At $100 per shelf unit the iron pipe is high dollar.
I thought that wood shelving would be so much cheaper, but not as nice looking. So I thought that it might be fun (and look good to) to carve a bunch of corbels in many different styles as support for all the shelves that will be and are hanging on the wall.
Excellent advice. Thank you Ma'am.
To answer your question: I am finally putting together my shop after 25 years of "trying" and find the need for a lot of shelving to get everything in the garage off the floor (tools, paint cans, misc stuff).
I have been using iron pipe to support the shelving - expensive but looks good. At $100 per shelf unit the iron pipe is high dollar.
I thought that wood shelving would be so much cheaper, but not as nice looking. So I thought that it might be fun (and look good to) to carve a bunch of corbels in many different styles as support for all the shelves that will be and are hanging on the wall.