How Long Do You Wait? - Tiki Carving

B Benzart Member Port Saint Lucie, Florida Joined: Jan 09, 2004 Posts: 10397	B Benzart Posted posted on Sat, Apr 29, 2006 5:12 AM HEy Sam,, Really nice job on your tikis, that #1 is really excellent. By now you have seen that different woods work differently. Palms. you usually don't need to wait more than a few minutes to carve. When it comes to hard woods like the Cherry and Jacaranda, it usually helps to prevent cracking (or Checking we call it) to wait awhile and let the log dry out. Usually a few months stacked and covered outside beside the house works. If you don't let the moisture escape SLOWLY, then when you carve it, the moisture escapes so fast that the structure of the wood changes and giant splits happen. We hava ALL had those things happen to our carvings and it is no fun. Hope this helps and your Son's stuff looks like he has a ton of potential. Good Man..

HEy Sam,, Really nice job on your tikis, that #1 is really excellent. By now you have seen that different woods work differently. Palms. you usually don't need to wait more than a few minutes to carve. When it comes to hard woods like the Cherry and Jacaranda, it usually helps to prevent cracking (or Checking we call it) to wait awhile and let the log dry out. Usually a few months stacked and covered outside beside the house works. If you don't let the moisture escape SLOWLY, then when you carve it, the moisture escapes so fast that the structure of the wood changes and giant splits happen. We hava ALL had those things happen to our carvings and it is no fun.
Hope this helps and your Son's stuff looks like he has a ton of potential. Good Man..

Post #229343 by Benzart on Sat, Apr 29, 2006 5:12 AM