This is a nice piece of cottonwood bark, the thicker the better because when you remove the flaky outside bark you need to have something left to carve!
Although it's not very long the width and depth is good on this cottonwood bark.
This is a standard 2x2x6" piece of basswood
I usually bandsaw off the edges on all 4 sides (on the upper portion) when carving Witches, Gnomes and Santa's
I use this size for carving larger Santa's and although I get the wood 18" long, I usually cut it down to 9"
A nice piece of white cedar ready to become a Santa
The white cedar looks to be about 30 years old by the rings. White cedar is a little softer than basswood and doesn't hold as much intricate detail but is still a good carving wood.
Here's a view down to where I carve, pretty basic stuff. You really don't need a lot of space to carve!
The box with a filter is my dust collector, the filter pops out easily to go outside and brush it off. I have a magnetic tool holder mounted on top.
