Question about obtaining starting material

[Achingwrists]

Hello one and all:

I just started carving wood two weeks or so ago. I wanted to make a rocking horse for my neices, so I ordered Richard Butz's How to Carve Wood and a 12-piece Grizzley chisel set. It's going well, and I'm learning as I go, but my biggest problems center around the block of wood that I'm carving.

This rocking horse is being designed around a pattern that I used while still in college, to build a more conventional, non-carved 2-D rocking horse for my other neice. Because the pattern for that horse called for cherry for the horse's body, walnut for the saddle, and maple for the rockers, I'm staying true to type and using those kinds of wood again. My father owns both a woodlot and a bandsaw mill, so getting (free) lumber cut to specification of any of those species isn't a problem for me.

Because the body of the horse from the 2-D plan was approximately 2"x12"x30", I added a couple of inches to allow for the curveture of a carved horse's belly and rump, and had my Dad saw a 6"x12" block, about 10 or 12 feet long. If you're familiar with sawmill lingo, he sawed a 12-foot log down to a 6"x12" cant, and then quit sawing. The log in question had been laying in the woods after we sawed it for about a year-and-a-half, and we sealed the ends with a wax sealent to prevent cracking sometime over that year-and-a-half. I tried to use a 30" section out of the center of this cant (I hated to rob the center, but it was the most knot-free section with the best grain) about a month or two after we sawed it. I brought it in from outside and set it up in the cellar, where I'm doing the carving work. It's chilly in the cellar, but it's a lot warmer than it is outside. Within about a week, the block had started to crack in a place or two, and by now (about a month after I brought it inside) it's cracked so badly in so many places that I'm having trouble carving around the cracks. I've since heard the rule-of-thumb (and read it in Butz's book) that wood dries about an inch a year.

My question is this: Where do wood sculptors find hardwood that's dry enough to work with indoors without experiencing cracking like this? Is cherry just notorious for cracking badly, or do people really air-dry blocks of wood for a decade before they use them? Logs that have been left in the woods to air-dry naturally are usually rotted, cracked, or both after a few years of laying around.

Any advice would be appriciatied. If I try to do large carvings again, where should I look for dry blocks of hardwood (or softwood?)

Thanks,

- ARH

[mark yundt]

I have done many large carvings over the years and have never used one piece or block for any of them. It's always a glue up using only kiln dried wood.

Anything over 2 inches is almost guaranteed to crack,,especially cherry,,especially if it's only "seasoned" or "air dried".
Everyone talks about so many years per inch,,sealing the ends with some magic potion and it almost never works,,dipping it in some concoction so you can carve it green etc..The next posts are usually "how do I stop this thing from cracking?"
About the only wood you might find that has been properly dried close to that size is Basswood ( 4 inches is about the max) ,,and you can find Tupelo that should be stable at that size as well. For anything else,,it requires a glue up.
The nature of any wood,,regardless of how it's dried is it will keep moving.
In my opinion for all the time and effort that goes into carving a piece,,even if you only do one piece a year,,use kiln dried wood.
You can do all the dipping,,sealing,,waiting years to dry,,to get a piece of wood. And when you think it's ready to use,,,toss it in the wood stove. It's ready for that.

Small ,,thin pieces you might get away with it,,but for my time and effort I still wouldn't bother with it. It's just not worth it considering how cheap wood is compared to the time and effort you will spend working on a piece and then sit back and watch it crack before you are even done.This stuff is so unstable as it is ,,don't ask more than it can offer.
Why? Where is the benefit of "free wood"?
There are any number of mills that handle kiln dried wood. For pieces this small some even have free cut offs. But I'm sure you won't find any much more than 8/4. I believe a glue up is in order.

[Clifford_Parker]

ARH,

Kiln drying is usually your best bet for larger pieces of most common carving woods and cutting the wood into thinner boards for drying and then glueing them back together will also help prevent cracking. I get all of my basswood from cant cut-offs and the ones I don't resaw will usually crack after a few months.

As you found out, bringing wood indoors can also cause rapid cracking due to differences in temperature, humidity, etc.. Harder woods like cherry will check and crack far more than softer woods like basswood.

I use a solar kiln during the summer months made from a couple cheap tarps, a thermostat, and two box fans. This works well for stick blanks and resawn basswood pieces.

Mark,

The benefit of "free wood" is exactly that. While you may consider wood "cheap" I couldn't afford to carve if I had to buy wood.

I also disagree with your assessment of air drying. If you have the time to wait air dryed wood is even more stable than kiln dryed. This is due to the wood cells losing the ability to rehydrate.

[mark yundt]

Read this if you wish to understand why air drying is the least favorable method of drying wood and all the problems it causes. Rehydrating is the least of the concerns. The biggest problem is they don't DEhydrate. That's why it starts cracking after it's cut or moves indoors.The outer layers create a shell trapping moisture inside. You can't dry it quickly and completely in a uniform manner.It's just not as stable,,the process isn't as controllable as far as humidity,stain,cellular stress ,,rate of drying ,seasonal differences not only as the article points out from state to state but season to season,relative humidity. Really ,,who has the inclination to monitor this as closely as it should let alone having the proper equipment? Thinner pieces,,,maybe,,a thick chunk,,well...even kiln operators won't do it. And many think they can do it at home somehow.
And considering the average size of most carvings the amount of wood needed is relatively minimal.Also considering the investment in tools,,books,,patterns,,classes,and everything else why then scrimp on the most important element which ends up being an unknown factor which just might end up cracking to save a dollar or two?
Now it just might be the area in which I live but finding quality wood of known moisture content and quality isn't difficult nor expensive. A common example is a piece of bass 2" X 8" X 8 ft will run about 25 bucks and keep most people carving for a few years. I've recently sent out boxes full of decent wood to many people for free. They were just my cut offs. Early on I filled my trunk at a local cabinet shop with good quality wood. Another local woodworker gave me Zebra ,Macassa ebony,tiger maple,cocobolo woods for free. I have no problem with free wood,,,just because it's free though doesn't mean it's worth carving. Especially if you think about the time,effort and money you sink into a hobby a cracked carving ends up being very disheartening to see. No matter how cheap the wood was I don't think it's worth it.
Now the problem might not be so bad if the wood is fairly thin. But as the article points out,,it can be. I just don't like dealing with unknown quantities and taking that chance with a carving.And the thicker the wood only exacerbates the problems let alone that something this thick should be glued up anyway.
I know many will swear by the wood they have seasoned. I too have had wood in attics,heated spaces,stickered,,waxed,sealed,vented etc. ,,,ultimately it all burned quite nicely after trying to use it in a carving.
Just out of curiosity Cliff,,,how big are your average carvings and how many board feet of wood do you go through in a year? 100,,300,,500 or more?

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fp...tr113/ch12.pdf

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I would suggest you contact "Heinecke" for wood.

[brian-bailey]

Once wood is dry it won't rehydrate past it's fiber saturation point no matter how much water you pour on it.

Kiln dried wood is more stable on a whole because it has been dried using established drying schedules to avoid the defects that Mark has described.

But once wood has been dried properly either by air drying or kilning it's all pretty much the same.

This subject has been researched extensively by the wood industry for over a century. There is no reason to listen to hearsay on this topic.

[Clifford_Parker]

Mark,

My average carvings are 2"-3" by 6"-8" but I also use a lot of 4"X6"X+12" basswood cant cut offs for larger carvings like lighthouses, large woodspirits, santas, etc. and have never had one crack or a customer complain that one had.

Between woodworking (mostly chests and keepsake boxes) and carving I use several hundred board feet of walnut, cherry, cedar, and basswood yearly. With the exception of the cedar, all my wood is/was free. When my best friend's grandfather died we loaded up six truckloads of rough sawn, air dryed, walnut and cherry and brought it to my place. Some boards were 3"-4" thick by 6"-8" wide and only had a few end cracks after 30+ years of storage. I also have a number of 3" thick oak sawmill slabs that I am using for coffee table tops. They were placed in my homemade solar kiln until they reached 15% moisture content are have been in storage for three years with no signs of cracking,

Yes, kiln drying is an effective and economical process that aids wood suppliers in keeping costs and defects down but woodworkers have also successfully air dryed wood for thousands of years.