Wood carvings from Tropics are CRACKing - any remedies?!
Razvan Neagu
I just returned from a trip to Indonesia and Thailand, where I purchased
many wood carvings/sculptures. Unfortunately, they are all cracking!
Some of them are made from Ebony and some from Suar (sp?) wood and some I
have no idea what kind of wood.
Do you know if there is ANYTHING I can do to repair current damage and
prevent further cracking?
I got from Eagle (hardware store chain in hte USA) 2 products:
*** Minwax - High Performance Wood Filler; hardens in 15', will not crack,
split, shrink or fall out
*** ProBond - Polyurethane Glue
I have also seen in the store a wax/varnish that you can paint on top of the
wood and is supposed to *harden* it but I think this would not prevent the
cracks, as these are not only a surface phenomenon.
Do you have any advice? - please reply directly: raz...@alum.mit.edu
Thanks,
Razvan
JHogan2359
>I just returned from a trip to Indonesia and Thailand, where I purchased
>many wood carvings/sculptures. Unfortunately, they are all cracking!
>
>
house now. As wood dries, it shrinks, and the cracks in your carvings probably
occurred first in the thinnest sections of the carvings, then progressed to the
thicker parts.
Try asking this question at rec. crafts.woodturning or rec.crafts.carving.
They may have some suggestion about how you *may* be able to prevent further
cracking.
JHogan
Rick Haver
In article <19971227013...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
jhoga...@aol.com (JHogan2359) wrote:
>I just returned from a trip to Indonesia and Thailand, where I purchased
>many wood carvings/sculptures. Unfortunately, they are all cracking!
>
>
Bringing them in from the tropics to the desert-like humidity levels
of a heated space is guaranteed to cause splits in a carving. You could try to
recreate the humidity levels of Indonesia and Thailand or learn to live
with the splits and cracks. I suggest the latter.
The Carving Shop
The above comment is correct, however a way to recreate the humidity levels is
if the carvings are small enough, put them into a plastic bag with wet paper
towels. When you see the cracks closing up, remove them and wax them to try
to hold the humidity in. You'll need to repeat the process each time the piece
dries out. Good luck.
Joe Dillett from The Carving Shop 'www.thecarvingshop.com'
Riley
This type of cracking is called "Checking". It is difficult
to address.
Fine wood sculpture is usually hollowed out to prevent this.
This requires drilling out material starting at the bottom and then
carving out a large cavity with special tools. The finish walls
should be of uniform thickness. The spaciality tools for this job are
similar to the ones for making wooden shoes and are very difficult to
find.
This is a large amount of work and is risky. You are probably
better off living with the checking.
You might make a humidity controlled cabinet if the pieces are
very valuable.
Tom Riley
Woodware Designs
http://www.charm.net/~jriley/compfurn.html
Ron Lammers
I sell carvings and if they crack they usually are some of the first to be
bought. What you can do is put crazy glue in the cracks and they still
look great
>
The Carving Shop
You must be careful when filling cracks in any wood. If you fill them with any
material harder than the wood, when the moisture increases in the wood and the
crack tries to close and can't, it will cause the existing crack to crack further.
If I do any filling on a finished piece, I use bees wax. This is a constant
maintainance because in the summer the wax pushes out, and in the winter it needs
refilling. The glue 'Hot Shot' is something like a crazy glue, and if I use it for
filling, I either carve chips to match the gap so the glue lines are narrow, or
I pack the crack with sawdust and than apply the Hot Shot.
Charles (Joe) Stahelin
The cause of the cracking is probably the continuation of normal drying
to match the climatic/indoor conditions in which they now live. I
think you might get better advice from the antique trade as they deal
with repair and renovation whilst woodworkers normally let their timber
dry out and settle before they use it. My own experience is that the
carvings one picks up here and there do not usually move too much -
but I am sure there are ways and means of helping to control it.
Good luck.
-----------------
In article <#wvIYklE9GA.167@upnetnews04>, Razvan Neagu
<razva...@email.msn.com> writes
>I just returned from a trip to Indonesia and Thailand, where I purchased
>many wood carvings/sculptures. Unfortunately, they are all cracking!
>
>have no idea what kind of wood.
>
>Do you know if there is ANYTHING I can do to repair current damage and
>prevent further cracking?
>
>I got from Eagle (hardware store chain in hte USA) 2 products:
>*** Minwax - High Performance Wood Filler; hardens in 15', will not crack,
>split, shrink or fall out
>*** ProBond - Polyurethane Glue
>
>I have also seen in the store a wax/varnish that you can paint on top of the
>wood and is supposed to *harden* it but I think this would not prevent the
>cracks, as these are not only a surface phenomenon.
>
>Do you have any advice? - please reply directly: raz...@alum.mit.edu
>Thanks,
>Razvan
>
>
>
>
--
Charles (Joe) Stahelin
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK
ross
In article <01bd15c2$d159bd80$1302010a@ron-s>, ron...@q1.net says...
>
>I sell carvings and if they crack they usually are some of the first to be
>bought. What you can do is put crazy glue in the cracks and they still
>look great
>
will soak into the crack. If you need a thicker and slower drying crazy glue
try Locktite 404. Taught to me by a bowyer. Neat trick cause I can still
make mistakes.