Green wood.

[aulddiy]

I can n't get it in to my head how we can carve green wood without it cracking. I know others do it successfully I've tried and made a right ......mess of it. Splits etc.. I've tried micro wave oven but that was, less than successful. Oh I did it when she was out
A friend recently cut down an apple tree and let me have it. With the climate here in Scotland the apples were rubbish but this old tree has some interesting wood.
How do others carve green wood?
Thanks
John

[Blake Lunsford]

John,

Allen Goodman put me on to some stuff called Pentacryl that you can purchase through woodcraft.com. You put it on your piece after you have carved it and it helps keep it from splitting. I'm unsure if there is a place in scotland where you can purchase it, but I am sure you can find somewhere on line to order it.

I hope this helps!!
Blake

[Claude]

John:

Polyethylene Glycol is another chemical that people use to stabilize wood and keep it from checking/splitting. Here's some info about it:
http://owic.oregonstate.edu/pubs/pegñ.pdf

Claude

[FBrigdon]

Thank you SO much for this information. This is a problem that I have been trying to figure out how to overcome, too. Does anyone here have experience with either of these products?

I will definitely be trying these out. THanks again!

Floyd

[Blake Lunsford]

You can probably contact Allen....I know he carves a lot of walking sticks and uses it on a regular basis. He also shows it on his video on carving walking sticks. I have some but haven't tried it yet, but I plan to.

Blake

[big dave]

I use pentacryl alot and it works well for me, before I found pentacryl i would put the piece in a old towel and then put it in a dark closet for about a week and that worked ok,

[aulddiy]

First I'd like to thank everyone for their in put. As I'd hoped this is the place to learn . In fact a college of knowledge. Pentacryl
has travel restictions on it surface mail only. So I limited my search to the UK.. As of now I've had no luck. I've written an email to my usually supplier Axminster and my other source Jean Burhouse I'll phone tomorrow. I'm keen to experiment with it after an owl carving and a ladle of different woods both split on me as I'd almost finished them.
I'd used power tools on both and it could be the heat they generate might be a contributary factor.
Again thanks gentlemen .

[aulddiy]

Well I traced the product, an import from the US. to a dealer in another foreign country, England
A liter cost £17.90 Around 29$. So I'll give it a trial.
John

[Agoodknife]

Green wood + Pentacryl = !!! Glad you found source in area. I love this for my walking sticks ( that I have cut in mid summer !!! ). I go "really" deep in the stick,not as to weaken for the hikers,but it aint "shallow".LOL.
Allen

[FBrigdon]

I picked up some of this at Rockler today and plan on trying it out (hopefully) tomorrow. I will be glad to post the results when done....

Floyd