Carving Care

Carving care 

 

  • After purchasing your carving, we suggest you  coat the carving with in the first  week, then after a month, and again after one year . After that apply a coat once a year and as needed . 
  • Do NOT coat  underneath the base/ the bottom side . By not coating the bottom the wood can still breathe . 
  • Direct Sunlight and dry places (next to a heater) are not good for a wooden sculpture. These places will increase cracking .
  • Keep your sculpture at least 3/4 of an inch off of any surface (ground/floor).  Bricks, rocks, coasters  etc can be used for this purpose. We prefer pieces of pressure treated wood for outdoors .

 

The above steps will help reduce the possibility of large cracks but does not exclude.

 

Wood Checking (cracking) is a natural tendency of wood,whether seasoned or green, once you cut it, it will begin to check. It occurs because of moisture coming and going; the log breathes. This is due to humidity changes and is in no way considered a defect. If the wood sculpture is kept in a stable environment and is treated well with urethane, it can reduce the likelihood of checking but does NOT prevent it . Wood is always absorbing and expelling moisture due and to that process cracks are a natural accruing process.

 

When your carving checks, you have several options.  You can Enjoy the beauty of the wood sculpture as a natural element and leave the check.  Or, choose from the options below.

 

Repairing a check

  • If your carving is painted a solid color, you can use indoor/outdoor caulking to fill the check and easily paint over it to match the existing color paint. Spray paint from Lowes or Wal-mart can be used, along with  caulking from Lowes or other hardware stores.
  • If your carving is natural wood color, 
    • Wood Putty or Epoxy can be placed in the check and refinished with Stain or Spar Urethane (water-based)
    • Wood Shims, paintsticks or shavings can be placed in the check, sanded smooth, and refinished with Stain/paint or Spar Urethane.
  • Quick fix; reapply stain/color or paint/Spar Urethane in the crack so that it blends in with the rest of the sculpture.
  • If you have a custom airbrushed carving no worries it can still be repaired! Custom carvings can be repaired by using similar techniques.
  • If you have a custom airbrushed carving and would like us to do the repair please reach out ! We require customers to cover shipping costs and we will do the repair for free on custom carvings.