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Hillbilly voodoo

Best material for carving masters

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I am partial to basswood as cheap and readily available and is what most of my masters have been carved from.  "Detail" is dependent on the person.  Basswood can get fuzzy with fine detail but can be burned off.  I don't do much detail on lures typically so basswood works well for my needs.  

Won't have issue with grain and there is a reason why basswood is used frequently by carvers.  Tupelo is nice also but haven't used much of it.  Paulowina I tried seamed to splinter easily.

Aspen or pine could be fine also.  Maple holds detail well and crisp but more difficult to carve and work with.

 

 

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If I was going to attempt a carving project. I would make a mold and cast the simple un-carved body in Bondo and then carve.

There is no grain to be concerned about, and if I screwed up, I could quickly cast another master for my next carving attempt rather than starting from scratch.

Dave

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For wood poplar.

For a different approach, I've made some out of sculpty clay that dries very quickly in the oven. You could mold it

up by hand then put in details while its' soft or just make it smooth then bake it and cut the details in with a  dremel.

Pvc trim board is also a carving option. Hmmmm, what to do?

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I've had good luck with baltic birch plywood.  Not the normal plywood from home depot.  Normal plywood uses low quality plies in the middle.  Baltic birch uses high-quality plies all the way through.  I got mine at Rockler woodworking store.  They sell smaller pieces (1ftx2ft) so you don't have to buy a whole sheet.  No problems with grain, it finishes fairly smooth and then wipe on layers of lacquer and final dip in floor wax to get gloss finish.  The plies show up as alternating light/dark lines that help you keep symmetry.  You can get pretty fine detail.  If I wanted super fine detail I'd carve either PVC trim board or a tan-colored casting resin (urethane).  I really like having the lines built-in to guide my work.

MasterPaddleTail.jpg

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9 hours ago, wchilton said:

I've had good luck with baltic birch plywood.  Not the normal plywood from home depot.  Normal plywood uses low quality plies in the middle.  Baltic birch uses high-quality plies all the way through.  I got mine at Rockler woodworking store.  They sell smaller pieces (1ftx2ft) so you don't have to buy a whole sheet.  No problems with grain, it finishes fairly smooth and then wipe on layers of lacquer and final dip in floor wax to get gloss finish.  The plies show up as alternating light/dark lines that help you keep symmetry.  You can get pretty fine detail.  If I wanted super fine detail I'd carve either PVC trim board or a tan-colored casting resin (urethane).  I really like having the lines built-in to guide my work.

MasterPaddleTail.jpg

That's a really neat idea!

 

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