How do you keep this from checking

[Rick de Roque]

How do you keep this large piece of wood from checking before you sculpt it? I put this in the turners forum because I thought you guys might have more info on preventing checks in large pieces of wood.




thanks,
rick

[Jim Underwood]

Normally turners will harvest a log, seal the cut ends with Anchor Seal and store it for a year for each inch in diameter. This ensures that it dries slowly and helps prevent checking.

Another option is to cut the log into blanks and split them to take the pith of the log out of the equation, and then seal the ends.

Yet another option is to take the above blanks, rough them out to roughly 3/4 - 1 inch thick (depends on size of the blank), cover them in Anchor Seal or newspaper and store them in a cool dry place for six months to a year, until dry, then finish them.

For a sculpture like this, you might get away with roughing it out, then sealing it, and storing it for a year or so, then finishing it.

The whole idea is to cure the wood slowly and evenly.

[Jim King]

I have to assume your work shown has a significant value and is worth some extra effort. From experience I can say that most peices of large wood if put in a steam chamber will loose the tension that makes them crack. I would build a small chamber and steam the peice until the core temp is as hot as the air for several hours and you should have an extremly stable peice of wood plus it will dry quite fast.

[Keith Christopher]

I guess this also assumes it was not kiln dried.

[Ian Abraham]

Picking the right type of wood has a lot to do with it.

Softwoods like cypress shrink less as they dry, so are less prone to cracking. A lot of pieces like that are also done from old salvaged wood thats been down for years, sometimes recovered from a stream or swamp, so it's had plenty of time to stabilise.

You may also find that the form the sculpter 'found' in the wood took the cracks into account, they were removed as the shape was formed.

That form seems to be fairly thin and delicate - hard to tell from one photo, but if the cross sections have been carved down to 1-2" thick then it's less likely to check as well.

Cheers

Ian

[Mark Rios]

How do you keep this large piece of wood from checking before you sculpt it? thanks, rick

It's quite simple really: just take away it's check book.

[Rick de Roque]

I have to assume your work shown has a significant value and is worth some extra effort. From experience I can say that most peices of large wood if put in a steam chamber will loose the tension that makes them crack. I would build a small chamber and steam the peice until the core temp is as hot as the air for several hours and you should have an extremly stable peice of wood plus it will dry quite fast.

The work shown is NOT my work. It was at a gallery I saw in Maui this summer and couldn't figure out how they did it without any checking. Sorry if I gave the impression it was my work. I only wish it was.

Mark: Check book.... good one. My kids call that a Dad joke.

Rick

[Rick de Roque]

For a sculpture like this, you might get away with roughing it out, then sealing it, and storing it for a year or so, then finishing it.

The whole idea is to cure the wood slowly and evenly.

If you rough it out first would you seal it Anchor Seal or is there something else?

Thanks,
Rick

[Michael Cody]

For a sculpture like that I would consider PEG ... it has to soak for several weeks but basically PolyethelyeneGlycol (PEG) replaces all the water in the wood. It's used for preservation of museum wood artifacts all the time. That is how I would approach it. A piece like that has to much work into it to trust other methods.