Apple

This is one of my favourite woods to carve in the green. It has an almost soapy carving characteristic. It is also possible to get interesting colour differences between the darker heartwood and lighter sapwood. In the lighter wood there is still an attractive figure which shows through. Apple wood can be stored for many months under water and although there is some surface discolouring this does not seem to penetrate into the wood. 

Garden apple tree prunings can provide fascinating shaped branch wood to carve. Side branch knots can be a problem, particularly early side branches that have died back or have been pruned many years earlier and have been grown over. There can also be small shakes in the wood which appear for no apparent reason. Carving into apple wood is always an adventure!