Working with green wood

[Hammock Hamster]

Hi All,

I have recently started carving with green wood and wonder if anyone can offer some advice.

Be gentle with me as i may well be going about this completely wrong.

Essentially I have been carving some spoons and bowls from freshly cut rounds (curtesy of the forestry commission ) and want to know the following -

Once something has been either carved or roughed out is there anything i can do to limit or prevent the wood splitting as it dries? I know from my axe/knife care wood needs to be completely dry before oiling to prevent moisture being trapped and causing rotting and presume this is the same for geen wood?

If no to the above how should I be storing/seasoning the rounds to minimise the risk of splitting, should i split them to speed up the drying process, how long should i be leaving it before considering working on it etc...?

Up until now i have been using wood i have stumbled upon that had either been cut and left for some time or fallen naturally and not yet started to rot.

I like the idea of working green wood, not least of all because its so much nicer to carve, but have had a promising bowl split down one side and although its good practive for my carving skills i would like to prevent a repeat as after all my effort i felt a little bit sad inside when i found the crack. :aargh4:

Cheers, Hamster

 

[Smith28]

One way is carve the basic shape, then let it dry and finish it off. That way the warping and splitting has occurred and you can work with it and hopefully it won't have effected your finished product too much.

Harder to carve when it's dry though.. obviously.

 

[Hugo]

For spoons just carve away, put them to one side to dry out, preferably out of a heat source.
When making larger items, whilst in the process, leave inside a plastic bag so as to slow down the drying effect, some fresh wood shavings would also help being left in the bag as well.
As to storing rounds, if possible leave them outside, out of the sun, better to carve wet that dry.

 

[mrcharly]

What orientation are you carving out of the rounds? Hollowing out the end grain, or hollowing from the side (i.e. making a hollow in the side of the log/branch).

Green wood splits radially, from the outside to the centre. If you are hollowing out from the end of a log, I don't think you can prevent splitting.

 

[Hammock Hamster]

Thanks guys i will give the plastic bag and wood shavings a try as im trying to make a kuksa at the mo so on the larger side especially while im roughing it out.

Mrcharly, i split the round vertically and have been hollowing the flat edge created by the split so from the side. So far i have had one split on the inside of the bowl from the top edge which makes sense from what you said about radial splits. I also part rounded off the side of the bowl which is on the end grain side which has also split from the middle outwards.

I have googles a few bits of advice that suggest sealing the ends with paint, wax etc... though not sure if this would be applicable to the small scales i am working in (3-6" diameter and about a foot'ish long).
I also read something about covering the wood in mashed potato which sounds a bit far fetched but wondered if anyone knows if theres any truth in this.

Will try to get a couple of pics tonight so hopefully the above makes more sense.

Cheers, Hamster

 

[mrcharly]

I've done the same as yourself a few times.

The speed of hollowing seems to make a difference. If you take the whole log back the same amount, then the chances of splitting seem less.

Robyn wood has a series of pics of one of his kids hollowing out a bowl. After splitting, they start from the rounded (outside) of the log, hollowing towards the centre. Robyn also says to not include the centre of the log in your bowl/kuksa.

 

[Stringmaker]

For the kuksa I'm making (on the "First Attempt at carving a Kuksa" thread), I started with a spilt birch round, working from the inside face.

I kept it green by covering it in its own shavings wrapped in a plastic bag whilst I got the shape. For the last 10 days or so, and for the next couple of weeks it is sitting on top of the shavings in the open bag, so slowly being exposed to air. Finally I will just take it out completely but leave it outside until I dare have a go at final shaping and sanding.

I've no idea if I'm going slow enough with the drying but so far at least it hasn't split...

 

[Hammock Hamster]

Hi Stingmaker,

Funnily it was that very thread that inspired me to have a go at making one for myself, i had hitherto thought you need a burl/burr to make one and was pleasantly surprised to see you using the flat edge on a piece of split timber.
Im getting the impression a plastic bag and some chippings is the way to go and will be following your thread to see how yours gets on.

"note to self, do not be a numpty and leave green wood overnight on the living room"

 

[SOAR]

When you choose your found wood look at the ends for splits that might be developing, if so cut past these before spliting, then when you split your wood carve away the pith as this is where your splits will come from.
The plastic bag is the best way to slow the peice drying out to quickly as mentioned by folks.
Also knowing your woods can help alot, some woods split very easily and some are more forgiving.

Best of luck to you and dont forget to post pics of your work.

 

[Stringmaker]

Hi HH,

Great username by the way.

Thanks for the acknowledgement; all I'm doing is following what somebody else (Jon Ridgeon) has done. We'll have to compare notes on progress; good luck with your efforts.

As you say in your quotation; don't leave green wood in a heated house!

 

[Ian S]

Bodger's website:

http://www.bodgers.org.uk/bb/phpBB2/index.php

Loads of info on green woodworking (that's what we do).

Cheers

 

[peasantchurl]

there is a learning curve, and your on it

 

[mr dazzler]

I generally use polypropelyne sacks with damp saw dust or fresh chainsaw chippings in it. The sacks arent fully airtight and waterproof like polythene is, the contents do dry off, but slowly. I often have 12 or 15 spoons in one batch. I just shake the sack up every so often, and keep a close watch for any mould. I havent had so much hassle with mould forming when using polythene sacks. I once tried adding a bleach/water mix to the chippings to try to reduce mould with some sycamore, but that species is very prone to it any way. (staining from moulds)