Linden or basswood tree for bowls

Basswood is the perfect wood for carving. It has almost no grain and carves easily. For a bowl, It would be a bland, white bowl with little character. But almost any wood is good if it is free.

It's lovely for anything, but it might be a little soft for heavy use (American basswood is harder than the European linden species though). As others have said it's also a little bland.

I'd save it for carving. Always plenty of demand for it as carving blanks, either squares or flat.

I also use mine for Japanese-style cabinetry, instead of some of the Japanese timbers I can't easily obtain. A friend makes conga drums from it and has even made a dugout canoe!

Turn it then carve it. Or turn it then apply marbling. Just because it's bland should not condemn the product to be uninteresting. jim

snipped-for-privacy@codesmiths.com wrote:

Ugly stuff, entirely unsuitable, and justly condemned by people who are always critiquing form over material.