What kind of oak is good for carving?

[Tom Jones III]

I frequently see carvings done in oak, especially English carving. I can't imagine carving the oak that I've seen here in local lumber yards. What kind of American oak do people carve? Around here (Houston TX) the lumber yards just carry "red" oak and "white" oak. The grain on these oaks is so open I've actually had glue squeeze out right through the grain!

[Mark Yundt]

I carve both . I've also carved some "French Oak" which was shipped in and it wasn't anything like our oaks. I've also had the opportunity to re- carve some very old moldings in oak and they too weren't anything like what we have today.

Northern grown seems to have a tighter grain and the best success I think would be to find some with this tighter grain.

in general I enjoy carving oak as it's easy to get clean cuts. Fine small detail may not be possible due to the grain of a given piece but it works nicely. When chisels are sharp the cuts take on a waxed appearance.

[Tom Sontag]

My answer to your question is "green oak", as in freshly cut down.

[Mark Yundt]

Yes, then the only thing you have to deal with is cupping, warping, cracking and splitting if you want to do anything with it as far as carving is concerned .

[Karl Andersson]

The English carvers use English Oaks that are generally tighter-grained than U.S. Red or White Oak. If you look at old english carvings and furniture, you don't see those big, grooved-looking grain patterns even if they are sawn boards (as opposed to riven). As Mark says, oak carves nicely, despite what you may read -just keep your knives sharp.

In my experience, kiln-dried red oak carves better if you use quarter-sawn/ riven pieces, or at least rift-sawn with the annular rings as close to perpendicular as possible to the surface you're carving. Sometimes you'll hit an area that's really porous in the ring, and if that's parallel to your surface, a whole section of freshly-carved detail can lift off -so have glue handy. I've also carved "green/wet" red oak ala Peter Follansbee, and that can be a real pleasure because the wood is riven, so is more stable, and because it is moist, it cuts much easier and smoothly. Not sopping wet, but only a few weeks after felling; because it is riven from a straight tree blank, there is very little chance of warping and covering it with shavings or a dry towel after carving will allow it to slowly dry and not crack.

There are some tighter-grained, uncommon American Oaks -Pin Oaks, Willow Oaks, etc. - but you're not likely to kind them in a normal lumber yard.

Get a hunk of decent-grained Red Oak and give it a try - at least it's inexpensive
Karl

[Mark Yundt]

I never have the time to coddle pieces waiting for them to dry. I need them stable and dry even if it is easier to carve. Learned this lesson the hard way where a piece did split in a church carving I did.

I also do enough repairs in churches , where oak seems to be the norm , and is split and cracked.

Last week I just bid a killer church job which will require massive amounts of oak. Carved pew/kneeler ends, 5 stall choir panels, lattice work , mldg, and you name it. It will all be dry.