# How Long is long enough?



## TEXA$TREE (Jan 15, 2012)

Seeking advice from experienced wood carvers, recently picked up a log from a Tree Company. The piece was cut this past summer and has sat laying on the ground since. My question is, how long is long enough to wait before the possibility for the development of cracks has dried up. This piece is extra large and I dont particularly feel confident enough to begin a carve without good advice from more experienced carvers, the species is a Southwestern White Pine and apparently was a very old tree.


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## timberjak (Jan 16, 2012)

In my experience whole logs will not dry out with the bark on.

pine logs with bark left on will attract long horn beetles and they lay eggs then you get the larvae,worms,grubs

so don't leave the bark on and get it off the ground. no bark less bugs.

I have carved for 23 years from whole logs,stumps etc. in my experience whole logs do not dry in the center very well, then when you start to carve the log it causes stress and releases the grain and makes cracks happen.

best I have found for cracks is getting the pieces sealed as soon as possible. with polyurethanes or the like

if you want absolutely no cracks then you need to glue together boards from kiln dried lumber.

drying a whole log will get cracks down the length look at log homes etc. they will have linear cracks


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