In my ongoing quest to carve a wide range of woods, I purchased some 1/8″ silver maple. Although the carving went well, and I will use it again, it will not replace either pear or black cherry as a preferred carving wood. Silver maple seemed to have about the same hardness as black cherry, and it does hold a line well, but it didn’t seem to be any easier to carve than the black cherry I have been using. My perception is that the wood is brittler, but as of now I have only used silver maple to carve this one piece. There is a wide range of colors to the wood, and I wonder if there is an equal variation in how hard the wood is and what the carving characteristics are. Does anyone know if the color reflects the hardness and carving characteristics?
