Central Florida Tiki - General Tiki

B Benzart Member Port Saint Lucie, Florida Joined: Jan 09, 2004 Posts: 10397	B Benzart Posted posted on Wed, Jan 14, 2009 5:24 PM Quote "Has anyone here carved in SoCal and in Florida, or vice versa? Have you noticed a difference in the way you have to carve due to the humidity levels being so different? More cracking, less?" I did some carving in SoCal a few days but several Months in Las Vegas where there is even less Humidity. As far as the wood, no difference, if a log is full of water and you open it up it will split no matter where you are and maybe even Less with less humidity because a log will have already lost much more of its water than in a humid condition. What it boils down to is this. If you carve a log before it is at least partially cured,, IT WILL Split Open. Now to confuse that a bit, Only SOME logs won't split at ALL. You can cut down a Norfolk Island Pine tree and carve it before it hits the ground and all you will get is covered with white, milky, sticky milky goop and No Cracks.. Ficus here will rarely split, in So Cal it will split. On Any number of palms it totally depends othe type of palm and what it's living conditions were when it went down. Did it die and stand for 2 years or is it a fresh "Landscape" take down, One of those might spplit and spit at you but it's possible both will not. it is Wacky. SO, Find a log and see how dry it is and try a small piece before going for broke. LikeChip&Andy said, there are Hundreds of carving trees down here and if you become friends with several tree trimmer companies you can get the lowdown quickly. IMPORTANT with these guys, Always Offer to do stuff for them, Help them and Never ask them to let their gus load you up. Offer to chop up some logs for them and O by the way can I roll a couple into my truck?? You'll have more wood than you can ever carve and you will be welcome in any of those trimmers yards. Be professional and they will be professional back. When you get down here one of these days, don't hesitate to come on down and pick my brain all you want I still have a few things in there that make sense any more :)

Quote
"Has anyone here carved in SoCal and in Florida, or vice versa? Have you noticed a difference in the way you have to carve due to the humidity levels being so different? More cracking, less?"
I did some carving in SoCal a few days but several Months in Las Vegas where there is even less Humidity. As far as the wood, no difference, if a log is full of water and you open it up it will split no matter where you are and maybe even Less with less humidity because a log will have already lost much more of its water than in a humid condition. What it boils down to is this. If you carve a log before it is at least partially cured,, IT WILL Split Open. Now to confuse that a bit, Only SOME logs won't split at ALL. You can cut down a Norfolk Island Pine tree and carve it before it hits the ground and all you will get is covered with white, milky, sticky milky goop and No Cracks.. Ficus here will rarely split, in So Cal it will split. On Any number of palms it totally depends othe type of palm and what it's living conditions were when it went down. Did it die and stand for 2 years or is it a fresh "Landscape" take down, One of those might spplit and spit at you but it's possible both will not. it is Wacky. SO, Find a log and see how dry it is and try a small piece before going for broke. LikeChip&Andy said, there are Hundreds of carving trees down here and if you become friends with several tree trimmer companies you can get the lowdown quickly. IMPORTANT with these guys, Always Offer to do stuff for them, Help them and Never ask them to let their gus load you up. Offer to chop up some logs for them and O by the way can I roll a couple into my truck?? You'll have more wood than you can ever carve and you will be welcome in any of those trimmers yards. Be professional and they will be professional back.
When you get down here one of these days, don't hesitate to come on down and pick my brain all you want I still have a few things in there that make sense any more :)

Post #428786 by Benzart on Wed, Jan 14, 2009 5:24 PM