How does a newbie prepare wood for carving?

[jooleyen]

Hello everybody. I've been reading on the forums since I started hand carving recently but have just joined to ask some questions.

I have just harvested wood for carving for the first time from my recycling center - a bunch of fresh ash logs. Now I'm not sure exactly what I should do with them.

I want to carve spoons, axe handles, bowls, cups, etc.

Do I cut the bark off?
Do I leave them outside off the ground?
Do I leave them in 6' lengths or cut the rounds shorter?
Do I split them right away?

I just don't want them to crack and rot and become useless.

Thanks,
Julien

[Donsexton]

Hello maybe I can help you I carve mostly green wet logs. I do store some of the more exceptional hard to get logs. You can peel the bark or not it doesn’t matter unless you store them outside then bugs and fungus will grow under the bark. If you store them inside or out you should coat the logs with melted paraffin. This will not prevent cracks it will help minimize them. Logs will crack as the outside growth rings dry they pull apart. You can buy a penetrative chemical that helps as well but a log will still crack. For what you are doing you should split the logs 4 ways and coat them with paraffin store them off the ground out of sun and rain.