OPEN POST Thursday!

Well, Today's post. is pretty basic, obtaining carving wood. Tom H is still out of pocket, i waited till now to post a subject, hoping tom would post from his alternate location, but no Tom, seams then gals and grandchildren has him hostage! I finely got in my 50 pounds of wood from Heinecke Wood Products, hope the bill aint that hefty... fast delivery since last friday nice thing bout dale, he sends the order then bills you on the next billing cycle... i dont think you can get wood from him by paying the day you order unless you find him at a carving show... how do you buy your wood? practice sticks only? some blocks? I have been buying large blocks 3 or 4" thick x 7 or 8"wide x 12" since i got my bandsaw, so i had the choice of what i wanted to carve when it comes down to them days when i need to make an order, i still have at least one big block i can carve out a big horse or multi charter scene project still,. and not have to be forced to glue up a bunch of practice sticks to get enough wood, then there's the grain problems as they change direction at the glue lines Itasca has some great prices on overstock and half priced wood, besides basswood, there are other woods available for carving, butternut being one, Iv'e only carved butternut once, and found it wanting to tear out more than basswood or cypress knee, Although knowing conditions like wood wetness make lots of difference in carving performance i cant judge all butternut by the piece i carved. Herold Enlow once mentioned in one of his books that air dried wood was a little harder to carve than kiln dried? I dont know anything about it, but definitely have found differences in wood of the same species.. any other experiences out there? any sales out there? or different types of wood to carve?