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Essen ti al Woodcarving Techniques

Fig 2.4 A piece of Southern yeUow pine. The dark bands are dense latewood\ the light are earlywood which tore easily when cut across the gmin with a blunt chisei The ringed aren has beeti cut across the grain with a sharp chisei The rest bas been planed along the gmin.

work as the transitions from early- co late- to earlywood are less abrupt. Quebec yellow pine {Pinus strobits), for instancc, a wood much uscd in pattern-making and frame-carving, is a delight, albeit an cxpensive one; Southern yellow pine (Pinuspalustris and orher specics), which has widc early- and latewood rings because it is grown in morc favourable conditions, is vcry difficult to carve (Fig 2.5).

Thf. Grain - Branches and Twigs Vcry often the pith, or medulla, is visible in rhe centre of a stem or branch. Walnut (Juglans regia) is a good cxample (see Fig 2.21). Most branches and twigs begin from rhis. Some start only as an invisible linÄ™ of cells waiting until the tree needs to make a new shoot in response to damage, while a few start from the cambiuin. The trcc grows around the branch which also continues to inerease in size (Figs 2.1, 2.6). The grain of the enclosed branch grows in a different direction, and

Fig 2.5 Slow-gown Quebecyellow pine (lefi) compared with the coarser texture of fast-grown Southern yellow pine (right). The dark lines are resin duets.

Fig 2.6 A riven section of an oak tree. The pith is the dark fissure running doiun the right side. The grain around the knot is typically disturbed. This branch was cut ojf some years before the tree was felled and the wood has grown around it. The outside of the log shows no sign of the dead knot within. The arrow (lower lefi) itidicates a my.

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