# Seasoned vs dry wood for power carving



## Cancotree (Jun 17, 2019)

Hi all. Was curious about dry/ wet wood for power carving. Which is best? I see a lot of stuff about green wood being best for hand carving but not much at all about power carving. Thank you in advance.


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

One problem with carving green wood is that you will likely get cracking after you complete your carving. It will of course depend upon the piece of wood you are carving. A piece from near the center (pith) will crack worse than one further out, for example. I don't do any power carving but I would think that power carving green wood might tend to gum up the tool and require frequent stops to clean off the tools. Of course it is going to depend upon what type of wood you are carving.


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## John Smith_inFL (Dec 15, 2017)

are you still talking about carving the cottonwood bark
and freshly cut trees ?
with your tree cutting business, you have access to wood
that is in different stages of its life. (green, dying and dead).
I suggest you experiment with what you have on hand and
you will come to your own conclusions of what works best for you.
starting with the Wood Wizards is a good choice. they take on
an individual personality and no two are alike.
there are several books on the market that you should invest in
about Carving Wood Wizards and Carving Wood Spirits.
[plus the thousands of videos on YouTube].
like you have discovered - it is a very relaxing hobby.
learn as you go, have fun and enjoy it !!

and you can take this as a fair warning !! once you get the hang of
of the Dremel tools, you will move up to the pneumatics . . . . 
then - to the chainsaw carvings. I've seen it happen first hand. (and it's awesome).


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## Dark_Lightning (Nov 20, 2009)

I personally wouldn't carve green or wet wood for any kind of thing that I wanted to be stable after carving. Bas-relief carvings tend to warp just from the relief of stress in the blank, and that's with dry planks. But then I don't really make that large of a project when I carve, so far. I have an 18" X 18" project that is currently stalled, because I need to make some tools for accessing some of the areas, and I'm recovering from foot surgery. Said foot is spending a lot of time elevated to avoid the throbbing.


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## Cancotree (Jun 17, 2019)

Thank you Lazyman, John Smith, and Dark Lightning. I will look into it a little more. I did try a piece of fresh cut Cherry. Once I got through the bark, it gummed my bit right up. But 1 of my kutzall bits arrived today so Im excited! Gonna give it another try just because. 


> are you still talking about carving the cottonwood bark
> and freshly cut trees ?
> with your tree cutting business, you have access to wood
> that is in different stages of its life. (green, dying and dead).
> ...


Thats funny! I was already looking at foredoms and I have plenty of chainsaws.


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