Treating big fresh cut carving blanks

Treating big fresh cut carving blanks · 07-25-2009, 10:35 PM

So I got these:

I have since put parafin on the ends. I assume I should debark (?). I am hoping to carve musical instruments out of these, so I want to try really hard to keep them from cracking. I know it may be a couple of years before I carve them.

NCTurner · 07-25-2009, 11:37 PM

Do NOT debark, the bark will help to slow and regulate the drying.

CarvedTones · 07-26-2009, 09:05 AM

Wah - I was afraid of that. I guess I should up my estimate to 3 or 4 years. What I am really after is pretty much the largest rectangle of heartwood I can get without any pith in it. But I was afraid to cut to those dimensions yet for fear of twisting and/or checking. I don't suppose thre is any safe magic way to speed that up is there? Because these are intended for instruments, I am trying to be extremely intolerant of problems.

CarvedTones · 07-26-2009, 12:21 PM

Over in another thread about the turning blanks from this wood, a suggestion was made about roughing and bagging. Is that applicable to carving as well?
The shapes to be carved are similar to these:

Could I carve it, leaving the necks extra large and the bodies oversized with the walls too thick and then bag it? I mean, I know I could, but would I regret it?

dkeller_nc · 07-26-2009, 02:20 PM

Sure you can - the wood doesn't care if it's a carving or a bowl.

I did exactly this a couple of months ago with a few poplar oblong dough bowls roughed out of half-logs. The wood was quite wet, so I rough-carved it to about a 3/4" wall thickness, then put it in a plastic white kitchen garbage bag. Over the next several weeks, I pulled them out whenever I felt like working on it, then returned them after a couple of hours. It worked like a charm - they were dry enough to finish-carve in about 3 months.

However, one thing I'd recommend is making you're rough carving longer than the planned finished dimension. End grain checks are a tough to completly avoid, so if you make each end about 2 inches longer than the finished piece, you've got some insurance when the piece dries sufficiently to not take any more precautions by placing them in a bag, immersing them, etc...

By the way - while it's true that bark will slow down th drying process (good), it can also harbor insects (potentially very bad). For that reason, I'd highly suggest that you remove all bark before taking this wood into your shop. The shop is usually a better place to dry it if it's in a bag vs. outside, unless your shop is an un-airconditioned garage that gets very hot in the day.

CarvedTones · 07-26-2009, 04:17 PM

Thanks. I think I will go ahead and rip through the sapwood on the sides to remove the bark and bag them. Having the blanks and not touching them would be difficult for me. I was going to do that if it was the only way to be sure of getting good results.

CarvedTones · 07-26-2009, 05:08 PM

Now the real fun begins...

There was a little hatchet and wedge driving involved in getting the bigger bark slabs off - there is no S on my chest.

So I will get all three about like this and bag them separately. I will take out the one I am working on only while working on it and put it back. Correct me if necessary...

Thanks!

dkeller_nc · 07-27-2009, 01:49 PM

"I will take out the one I am working on only while working on it and put it back. Correct me if necessary..."

This is precisely what I did when carving the poplar dough bowls. Worked very well.