More root stand carving

jeanluc83

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I started carving a piece of the maple. I'm carving it green to see how it goes.

So far it is not as plesent to carve as the Honeysuckle was. It is very tight grained though so I should be able to get some good detail.

I only had about 45 minutes free to work on it but I started to get it roughed out.

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Pitoon

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I started carving a piece of the maple. I'm carving it green to see how it goes.

So far it is not as plesent to carve as the Honeysuckle was. It is very tight grained though so I should be able to get some good detail.

I only had about 45 minutes free to work on it but I started to get it roughed out.

Keep in mind if you're carving that piece green the ends have the possibility to start checks and the roots could start cracks. Once you finish carving you want to dry it very slowing by putting it in a brown paper bag till it reaches the relative humidity in your area.
 

Stormwater

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Keep in mind if you're carving that piece green the ends have the possibility to start checks and the roots could start cracks. Once you finish carving you want to dry it very slowing by putting it in a brown paper bag till it reaches the relative humidity in your area.
Thanks for the tips
 

jeanluc83

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Keep in mind if you're carving that piece green the ends have the possibility to start checks and the roots could start cracks. Once you finish carving you want to dry it very slowing by putting it in a brown paper bag till it reaches the relative humidity in your area.

Part of my experimentation at this point is working on the ins and outs of using with green wood.

I'm not sure the exact date this piece was cut but I would imagine it has only been a couple of weeks. I have been carefully to make sure that it hasn't been allowed to dry out. Once I cut the blanks I taped the ends with painters tape to slow drying of the end grain. I have also been keeping the blanks in a sealed bag. I want the pieces to stay green.

Once I get the bulk of the material removed I'm planning on trying one of two techniques to mitigate the checking. The one I'm likely to try first is microwave drying. You use a microwave to heat the wood to the boiling point then cycle the microwave every 5 minutes or so to maintain the temperature just below the boiling point. The idea is that the heat drives the moisture out of the wood but also keeps the fibers pliable so that the wood doesn't check. The technique is outlined here.

The second technique that is popular with wood turners is boiling the wood. The wood is boiled fully submerged for 1 hour per inch thickness. It is then allowed to dry using the paper bag technique. I believe the idea is that the boiling relaxes the wood fibers reducing cracking.
 

Pitoon

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I've never tried either of the methods you've mentioned. But have tried the denatured alcohol method, which is to fully submerse the wood within denatured alcohol. The alcohol will force the water within the cells out and replace with alcohol. Then you pull out the item to dry slowly by allowing the alcohol to evaporate. It's a bit faster method than just letting it dry out naturally.

Keep in mind you may have painted the ends, but you reopened the end grain once you drilled all those holes. Also when you put it in the bag, keep an eye on it as mold will grow if kept in a cool place. Unless of course you like the look of spalted wood.
 

jeanluc83

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I got another session of carving done. I'm up to about 2 hours of carving and another hour or so of other work. I figure another hour or so should be enough to finish the carving.

I tried microwave drying with mostly positive results. I did get some slight checking but nothing I wasn't expecting. I think one of the keys is to have the thickness as consistent as possible.

It took 13 cycles of 30 seconds on 5 minutes off using my 1100 watt microwave at 70%.

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Bonsai Nut

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I haven't tried the fast methods for seasoning green lumber, because the rule is usually "slower is better" (because speed typically induces the stress fractures caused when one part of the lumber dries faster than the other). However for the record, the best practices for seasoning green lumber include:

(1) Cut to rough size as quickly as possible. Always cut oversize because lumber will shrink as it dries, but smaller pieces suffer less stress in the process than larger pieces. A log (for example) will be far more likely to honeycomb than boards cut quickly from the same log.

(2) Seal the end grain. This slows down the drying process so that all parts of the lumber dry at the same rate. Wood dries from end grain 10x faster than other sides of the lumber.

(3) Stack and weight your lumber. This is more important when dealing with long, flat boards, when you want to prevent cupping, twisting and warping. Stack the lumber with spacers between each board, and weight the top layer. Keep it out of direct sun and out of the rain and snow.
 

jeanluc83

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I managed to get the carving done on my latest stand. So far I'm really happy with how it turned out. I'm looking forward to seeing it with a coat if finish on it.

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For those who are interested the total time expenditure is up to about 4 hours for this stand.
 

just.wing.it

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jeanluc83

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Here is the last stand finished. It turned out really good but it is hard to photograph with the dark gloss finish on it.

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I'm actually going to be listening these on Facebook tonight if anyone is interested. I want to see if there is enough intrest to start making these to sell. I really just made these for fun but if I can get my hobby self supporting that would be great.
 
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