crack head needs help!

[Sharon of the Dell]

This little guy is a crotch from an oak branch. I saved him a few years back from getting totally burnt up from our camp fire.I think the wood was dry (not green) when I rescued him.After bringing him home from our camping trip, he got left outside on my pile of wood and really picked up moisture.
I've had him in the house for about nine months now. Been carving on him off and on for a few months.
I was hoping the cracks/checks wouldn't get any bigger, but they have.
It seems like he's pretty dry now, but I'm still afraid his cracks will get bigger.
There's a crack on his fore head going into his eye and a crack in his nose going into his lip. Plus others, but those are the ones I'm most concerned with.

What I'm wondering is, if I put super glue in the cracks, then fill in with carpenters glue and saw dust if that will keep him from splitting more.
I also thought about filling the cracks and then wrapping his head with a strip of leather for a head band/ hat band.

I'm not done carving him yet.
Thanks for any help you can give me.

.

[Sharon of the Dell]

I forgot to ask, will drilling some holes on the back of him help?

[Dan Wegiel]

Hello Sharon,
Don't have a clue about "how to fix", but wanted to say that IMHO he looks great the way he is, gives him tons of character, I like "crackhead"!!!
Dan

[Merle Rice]

Hi Sharon, I can see why you want to fixx the cracks, you are doing one great job of carving, he looks great.I wouldn' try to hide the Cracks, as Dan said, it is character to the piece. Looking forward in seeing him finished. For now I would bring him inside. Ha,Ha. Merle

[BobBlaney]

Sharon,
When the wood wants to dry it will do what it wants to to relieve internal stresses.
Gluing it will only prolong the inevitable. I built a butcher block islan top out of beech. A picture is on my website. The beech had been air dried for over 10 years, good enough to build two cabinet makers benches.
The glue ups were done with Titebond and within a year a least three cracks appeared. They were glued and clamped and opened again in about six weeks.
The table top was replaced by a granite tile one.

Hope this gives you an idea of let the wood do what it wants to.

[Tom Ellis]

You already have the perfect title for him Sharon, and he is going to be great. You and Dan keep finding all this cool stuff in a chunk of wood. I don't know how you do it.

Tom

[Claude]

Sharon:
I like it the way it is with the cracks; it looks more natural that way.

Claude

[Sharon of the Dell]

Originally Posted by Dan Wegiel

Hello Sharon,
Don't have a clue about "how to fix", but wanted to say that IMHO he looks great the way he is, gives him tons of character, I like "crackhead"!!!
Dan

Hey Dan my buddy! Thank you for your nice words. I don't mind his cracks, I just don't want him to crack more, hopefully he won't. But if he does, he'll just be more like me I guess! LOL

[Sharon of the Dell]

Originally Posted by Merle Rice

Hi Sharon, I can see why you want to fixx the cracks, you are doing one great job of carving, he looks great.I wouldn' try to hide the Cracks, as Dan said, it is character to the piece. Looking forward in seeing him finished. For now I would bring him inside. Ha,Ha. Merle

Thank you Merle! He's on my kitchen counter in a pile of chips and other carvings. Hope he doesn't end up in the soup pot by mistake! That would really mess him up. My cooking sometimes has odd splintery things floating in it! FIBER!!!!

[Sharon of the Dell]

Originally Posted by BobBlaney

Sharon,
When the wood wants to dry it will do what it wants to to relieve internal stresses.
Gluing it will only prolong the inevitable. I built a butcher block islan top out of beech. A picture is on my website. The beech had been air dried for over 10 years, good enough to build two cabinet makers benches.
The glue ups were done with Titebond and within a year a least three cracks appeared. They were glued and clamped and opened again in about six weeks.
The table top was replaced by a granite tile one.

Hope this gives you an idea of let the wood do what it wants to.

Hi Bob, I wondered about the wood still pulling a part after gluing. I think I will just proceed with carving and see what happens and worry about splitting later.
Thanks!