started carving wet

[CarvedTones]

I took the barley twist I started at my class with the Woodwright school and started carving a snake that has a marble trail in it:

It is largely complete; a marble rolls down and stops and I have set in around the head, which I will do in shallow relief. It is poplar and it was freshly cut not long ago. Anyway, except for the base, it is is now thin enough that it should dry pretty quickly. I am thinking about what to do next...

A) Just go ahead and finish, let it dry and see what happens.

B) Stop now, let it dry and then finish. That way if there are minor problems in drying I can work with them (make scale lines along any cracks, have a little leeway for reshaping, etc).

C) Same as B except stop and use some AnchorSeal on it.

Thoughts?

 

[Gofor]

Haven't got a clue which you should do, but really interested on the results.

Sorry I couldn't help:dontknow::dontknow:

Go

 

[cskipper]

I would be afraid of it cracking or mis-shaping if the wood was really wet and would probably use anchor seal. If moderately wet you might be able to thoroughly cover in chips. Someone with more knowledge of wet wood should be along soon.

 

[FredP]

I would put it in a paper sack with some chips and set it up to dry. same as a wet bowl blank you don't want it to dry too fast.:icon_thum nice work so far.:eusa_clap

 

[CarvedTones]

One thing I wondered is how wet it can be outside of the base; most of the rest is around 1/4" to 1/2" thick. I didn't plan to do that; those spirals are addictive and hard to stop working on. Besides, it was just a training exercise - but then it started turning into something...

 

[Dragon]

I would put it in a paper sack with some chips and set it up to dry. same as a wet bowl blank you don't want it to dry too fast.:icon_thum nice work so far.:eusa_clap

+1 to what Fred said. Paper bag with sawdust/wood chips, or wrap in paper with wood chips. Put it in a box in a place where it doesn't get direct heating blown towards it and let it sit for a while. Oh, keep yer fingers crossed too......that helps.