So many choices. Where to start?

Cherry, oak, maple, walnut, pine, poplar and even hickory. All of these and countless other varieties can be used for carving with beautiful results. Alas, there is only so much time and even less storage space. We have to get those choices down to a manageable few.

Cherry, oak and maple. These yield excellent results at a good price point and have decent availability. OK, those are the winners.

Stain choices add even more headaches to the selection process. 20 cans of stain on the shelf (and counting) and the results are mostly unpredictable. See our Stain Colors page for pictures of a few of these. There are also occasions where no stain (with just a sealer) or an oil finish is desirable.

Due to differing wood grains, sometimes even within the same piece of wood, multiple pieces with the same stain can look completely different. Usually the piece of wood will affect the stain shade more than the choice of stain. Something has to give. Light brown, dark brown, light reddish brown, dark reddish brown; those are the winners. Our choices, in the same order are clear, Golden Oak / Gunstock, Walnut, and Sedona.

For oak the best stains are golden oak/gunstock, sedona or walnut. For cherry sedona and walnut seem to work best.

Below are some pictures of pieces with the more common woods and stain options:

Oak

Cherry

More cherry pics as they become available.

Maple

More maple pics as they become available.

As noted earlier, these pieces reflect both the stain choice and the individual character of the wood. No two pieces will be the same which leads to the inherent beauty and individuality of each piece of art.