checks in cherry carving blank

[CarvedTones]

I have a piece of cherry roughly 3"x5" about 3' long. It is from a half log, that was cut on the BS and is sealed with parafin. The seal was beyond overkill; I let one of my kids help me and he had a lot of fun with a heat gun and a bar of Gulf wax. On top of that, I have been keeping it in a bag as I was starting to carve the general shape, and at some point would start exposing end grain. But I haven't gotten to that point yet, at least not near where it is checking. I have carved off the sapwood layer and started general shaping. It was to be a carved body string instrument, so it was to stay full width at one end and be narrower at the other with "shoulders" in between. At the shoulders, I am exposing some end grain, so a crack there (and I got one) is from my bag not sealing as well as I thought. But the checks near the ends in the middle are both near well sealed wood.

Anyway, one thing I wondered about is the "carving shock". I didn't remove the sapwood and start shaping the neck with a pocket knife. I have been using my 30mm #3 sweep gouge and a 1# dead blow. Is it likely that the "tremors" caused the checks? Or is it just bad luck? It is a highly effective way to do bulk wood removal by hand, so I don't want to stop using the technique if I don't have to.

It's not the end of the world for this piece by any stretch. Both checks and the crack (the crack I consider my fault) I can work around if the checks aren't deep and they don't spread.

 

[scsmith42]

Andy, can you post a picture showing the wood with a pointer to indicate where it is cracking?

Scott

 

[CarvedTones]

Andy, can you post a picture showing the wood with a pointer to indicate where it is cracking?

Scott

OK, here is the "big picture":

The one on the left is small. The larger somewhat diagonal line is where my over eager assistant let some wax drip down the face when he was sealing that end.

Here is a closeup of the right, which is the only end check, though it barely shows on the end; maybe 1/4" deep:

and left:

 

[Ken Massingale]

If the check is all the way through the 3" thickness I'm afraid it ain't going to stop. :-(

 

[scsmith42]

It's difficult to tell from the photo's, but it appears that the checks are in the pith (or juvenile wood) section of the log. I'd have to see a photo of the end grain to be sure.

I'm not that familiar with cherry, but with most species you will get some surface checking in pithwood.

On oak, the pith wood will check while I'm still milling - it's that unstable.

 

[CarvedTones]

I don't think it is. As I noted above, only one is an end check and at the end it is only 1/4" or so deep. I can't tell about the others as they are face checks, I guess (is that the right terminology?). But they weren't there when sealed and did not occur for maybe a month or so.

 

[CarvedTones]

I carved on it more and the cracks got bigger; it is related to the "shock".