[radrob]

I like the look of my carvings standing on a stump with the bark on. I have been using fir and the bark is really attached. Should i not do this . is it prone to fall off?

[brianh]

I don't know about fir, but some of my early white pine and hemlock carvings I left the bark on the base and pine borers got into the carvings.

They lay their eggs between the layer of bark and wood the grubs will then bore into the wood it is amazing how fast they can ruin a log.

Now when I get logs I make sure to remove the bark right away in warm weather.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

The bark usually comes off in chunks eventually.........the old days when they were building log cabins...they removed the bark for the same reason BrianH said....because of the bugs under the bark.

[tcb16]

I did a small bear in silver fir last year, and sure enough in late June the pine borers got into it. I got the bark off before there was any damage, but certainly something to look out for. Maybe try debarking, and then carving the bottom of the stump to look like bark?

Tim

[Chainsaw Artist]

I remove the bark from all my carvings, 100% guarantee that when using anytype of pines its a bug trap. I to like the look of the bark, but I also care alot about how well my carvings will hold up in years to come. I like to stain the bases on many of my carvings and use lots of wood oils everywhere to keep the critters out. If you do try and soak them down with oils and stains like I do...I have also carved bark into a few bases just to get that rustic look. Rocks are also a neat little way of removing the bark and adding a little something extra to the base.