Types of trees and properties of wood

Therefore, although different types of wood are used for fine carving, for each individual piece it is chosen in accordance with its features. For example: pine is the most readily available material. Its wood is resinous, straight-grained, bright and laminated. Fir wood has a yellowish white colour.

For a carver needle wood is good because it is easy to find, it is widely used as a construction material.

Since lime wood is straight grained and has uniform structure, when dried it is hardly prone to cracking, therefore it is most suitable for small pieces, pierced work.

Chestnut wood is yellowish grey, soft, light, similar to lime wood, it is even easier to process; therefore it is often used for sculpture carving. Yet, it is very sensitive for atmospheric changes and quickly decays.

Birch wood is fine grained, fibers are slightly curved. It is rather durable, hard, solid, resistant to cracking, easily let itself to turning and polishing, but hard to grind.

Oaks may be of two types: usual and red. Their wood does not differ much. The wood is fine grained, therefore when cut along the beams the planes have a beautiful decorative pattern. If soaked in water the oak wood gets black and hard.

Leaf wood is most suitable for fine carving. For some pieces one should choose soft woods, while for others hard woods are better.

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