a lonely basswood

[SW_IOWA_SAWYER]

I am a woodcarver and also cut basswood up for other folks. I not sure if you can believe what you have been told. But I will give you my free advise. First basswood is the wood most used by woodcarvers. In order to sell it you need to have a couple of key features, the first it needs to be white or at a minimum a white cream mix. It won't sell if it is stained blue grey etc. The second is it needs to be soft the softer the better. I can usually tell by the weight of the board whether it will be good basswood or not.
Basswood drys almost by itself never had a twisting issue but it will crack along the pith. I always cut out the pith out of all my pieces since they will nut but it with pith in it, it is end grain and checks and is hard to carve. I cut mine and then air dry it and eventually will run in through my solar kiln. Here is the key it needs good air flow otherwise it will stain inside the log and be worthless to a woodcarver (Trust me on that one). The reason is that most woodcarvers thin the paints to almost a stain like thickness and the stains show through. I cut all sizes 4/4 through 16/4 and sometimes thicker. Then if you are going to sell it for a premium which I would say is 4.00 ish a bdft  you need to cut out the defects and surface all four sides. The stuff many people swear by is from a place in Wisc. and they charge more toward 7.00 but it is really primo wood so I would try to shoot for someplace in between if you want to sell it. I sell big cants 4" by 8 or 10 by 8' for less since I don't have to spend time dressing it. You may find carvers to be experts in basswood and all have their ideas on who has the best basswood, but in general a good group of foks but they can be picky on buying basswood.

Good luck

[SwampDonkey]

I know that basswood will even spoil if you leave it sitting on a damp concrete floor like in the shop or barn. It will get that gray stain in it.

[Dieselbreath]

My friend and neighbor is a wood sculptor specializing in automotive art. He occasionally buys whole basswood logs (probably around 8' long) from Iowa and has them shipped to his shop in Oregon. He doesn't like slabs because some of his stuff is pretty good size. Don't know if he would be interested in one from Maine but I will ask him.

[okie]

I would check out the e-bay thing. See if anyone is selling carving blanks and what sizes they are selling the most of, then saw to fit that market. You may get a better price that way by expanding your customer base and not depending on two or three local carvers.

[olyman]

for some of us older characters---!!!!! did you know, that all the old circus wagons of a "few" years back, were made of basswood?? i talked to one of the restorers at the milwaukee,wi circus parade. it is held on labor day weekend,by the way. he said basswood carved well for the designs, and it would take bending without cracking or breaking. and i had just cut a real large one down, and turned it to firewood!!!!!!!!!!! sheesh

[SwampDonkey]

You could also make rope from the bark if you were so inclined. It has to be pounded I think, to separate the fibres.

Used to hear the natives pound black ash back in the 70's when I was a kid staying at my grandparents beside a reservation. The younger generation don't seem to be taking it up. One problem is there is no longer much local demand for baskets. The farmers are all mechanized, even picking rocks by machine now.