ican,
are often used, but they do not offer quite the same tempting
opportunity to the carver. They are, by nature, quicker-growing trees,
and are, consequently, more open in the grain. They have tough, sinewy
fibers, alternating with softer material. They rarely take the same
degree of finish as the English oak, but remain somewhat dull in
texture. Good pieces for carving may be got, but they must be picked out
from a quantity of stuff. Chestnut is sometimes used as a substitute for
oak, but it is better fitted for large-scaled work where fineness of
detail is not of so much importance.

_Italian Walnut._--This is a very fine-grained wood, of even texture.
The Italian variety is the best for carving: it cuts with something of
the firmness of English oak, and is capable of receiving even more
finish of surface in small details. It is admirably suited for fine work
in low relief. In choosing this wood for carving, the hardest and
closest in grain should be picked, as it is by no means all of equal
quality. It should be free from sap, which may be known by a light
streak on the edges of the dark brown wood.

English walnut has too much "figure" in the grain to be suitable for
carving. American walnut is best fitted for sharply cut shallow carving,
as its fiber is caney. If it is used, the design should be one in which
no fine modeling or detail is required, as this wood allows of little
finish to the surface.

_Mahogany_, more especially the kind known as Honduras, is very similar
to American walnut in quality of grain: it cuts in a sharp caney manner.
The "Spanish" variety was closer in grain, but is now almost
unprocurable. Work carved in mahogany should, like that in American
walnut, be broad and simple in style, without much rounded detail.

It is quite unnecessary to pursue the subject of woods beyond the few
kinds mentioned. Woods such as ebony, sandalwood, cherry, brier, box,
pear-tree, lancewood, and many others, are all good for the carver, but
are better fitted for special purposes and small work. As this book is
concerned more with the _art_ of carving than its application, it will
save confusion if we accept yellow pine as our typical soft wood, and
good close-grained oak as representing hard wood. It may be noted in
passing that the woods of all flowering and fruit-bearing trees are very
liable to the attack of worms and rot.

No carving, in whatever wood, should be polished. I shall refer to this
when