help, wooden cup crack?

[craven]

HELP!!:yikes:

Whilst carving my first wooden cup with my new crook knife and hatchet i have come across a snag! it has started to crack!! i only cut the wood yesturday and have spent most of the day carving it out, i don't want all my hard work (and blisters) to be for nothing! can anyone give me any clue as to what to do??

 

[HillBill]

If it is small it should seal when you finish the cup with oil. If not then i do not know. I don't think there is much you can do. The crack is caused by thinner parts of wood drying out faster than the thicker parts and the fibres shrink pulling apart from each other. Prevention is generally better than the cure in these cases.

Someone with more experience than me will know better though.

If it is your first cup. Just take your time and finish it as a shelf piece and practice run for your user. The second effort will ALWAYS be MUCH better than the first. So even if cannot be fixed you still gain from your efforts and have never just "done it for nothing" You gain experience which is infinitly better than any cup.

 

[jojo]

If you cut the wood yesterday, it's been drying too quickly. keep it in a plastic bag when not working on it, to slow down the drying. If its cracked now, I don't think you can do much about it, apart from keeping the crack to a minimum. Then when you finished, use it as a display and make another one

 

[wolf_diver]

try wood glue and saw dust or wax. i have the same prob and tryed wax.

 

[welshwoodsman]

one thing you can try, if you have access to a microwave and the crack is small,you can force dry it in a microwave on defrost, a minute at a time. it does work, just keep an eye on it and let it settle between heatings for a minute or two. also if you're carving fresh wood, put it in a plastic bag to avoid it drying too quickly and cracking in between carving sessions.

 

[Arth]

I use fine sawdust made by using a fine sandpaper and superglue. If the cracks are too big then put it down to experience.
The problem is when you are carving by hand you are warming the wood up and making it dry too quickly. Try using a mister like you get for houseplants to keep it wet.