That was my wood choice for carving paddles John, though
Greenland style, both for it's extreme lightness and as a
relatively soft wood. Excellent workabilty with well sharpened
tools. It was not dent resistant, not so much an issue, I
imagine reasonably strong, but as I mentioned before, I had used a
shear fiberglass epoxy coating. this was for additional strength
and durability rather than water resistance.
The best part of the wood was that I found it to be dead
straight and stable, from a 2x4 through all the cutting and
carving reductions (unusual in kiln dried wood). I got to pick
knot free from the selection, but that seemed to be easier than
what I find for typical 2 bys- knot free seems to be very resinous
in that selection.
I am a bit obsessive about sharp tools (I use a Japenese whet
stone trio), and it did seem to dull blades as fast as any hard
wood, I imagine there is a proportional silicone content.
I wonder what sort of minerals would harbor in driftwood in times
past and it's affect on cutting tools?