# Carving green Laburnum



## Caine08 (Feb 20, 2017)

Hi everyone, I'm new to this carving scene. 
I've recently bought a 6ft rough cut log of Laburnum, I'm carving some coffee table legs out of it but don't want to wait for years for it to dry and cure. It was felled a couple of months ago, so is still fairly fresh. Am I right in thinking that I should cut it to a rough size for each leg, seal the ends and once I have carved them to the finished shape, then seal the whole thing? I plan for them to be about 12'' long and around 5'' in diameter.
P.s I am aware of the toxicity of this wood and will be taking the correct precautions while working it.


----------



## papadan (Mar 6, 2009)

Cutting to rough size and sealing end grain is correct. This will allow the wood to dry a lot faster than the whole log will. Carving green will remove more wood and allow even quicker drying but you will have some shrinkage in the pieces so you can't carve all the way to finished size. Seal the ends to slow the drying process and prevent checking or splitting but if you try and seal the whole pieces, ends and sides you will lock in the moisture and possibly rot the wood before drying it.


----------

