[Woodcarver] Need advice carving repair (Joe D. and Ivan W. pleaserespond if possible)

[Joe Dillett]

Hi Alex,

It's always a pleasure hearing from you. You are always doing such 
interesting stuff. People are still blown away by your 1-inch diameter wood 
dowel, 4-foot long, with an 11/16 hole drilled clear through from one end. I 
still keep it and the video of how you did it next to my desk. I got to come 
up with another contest like that Boring Contest. That was fun.

Options about the crack?

It appears by the looks of the cracks that the statue still may have the 
heart in it (boxed heart) making it more unstable. You're right about MT 
being dry in comparison to where the wood came from and the moisture it was 
use to. I'm guessing that being winter in MT and by the amount and size of 
the cracks and that there are some cracks from the other side that the wood 
is about as dry as it going to get. So no need to try to remove any more 
moisture.

Every time summer comes with a rise in humidity those cracks will close 
(maybe 1/8 to 3/16-inch). Than in the winder again they will open up to 
where they are now, about ¾-inch. If you try to fill them with anything 
hard, that does not allow them to close, the force could cause the crack to 
continue through the piece to the other side.

How I would fill the very small cracks is with bees wax. Fill them in the 
winter and take off the excess in the summer when the crack closes and 
pushes the bees wax out. Than refilling them in the winter when the crack 
opens.

For the larger cracks I would carve a wedge from plainsawn basswood, 
matching the grain in the same direction, to fit the outside edge so it just 
fits without applying pressure. Try to do this in the winter so the crack is 
the widest. Carve the wedge so it just makes contact at the outer 1/8-inch 
surface of the carving. With only about 1/8-inch making contact the basswood 
wedge will allow more compression without forcing the crack to become worse. 
Also try to use the plainsawn direction of grain with the basswood which 
will compress more than if it was the quartersawn direction.

The second option would be to send the carving to me and just tell the owner 
of the statue that you don't remember anything about it or where it might 
be.

Has it been cold enough in MT to get some ice fishing in?

Mike Brown loved that batch of diamond willow you sent him. He brought the 
bundle to our apprenticeship class. The bundle was a lot lighter when he 
left.


Joe Dillett
The Carving Shop
645 E. LaSalle St. Suite 3
Somonauk, IL. 60552
(815) 498-9290 phone
(815) 498-9249 fax
http://www.thecarvingshop.com
jdillett at thecarvingshop.com
http://www.carvingmagazine.com Carving Magazine web site and Readers Forum
http://www.carvingmagazine.com/chat/chat.shtml Live Chat for Carving 
Magazine.
http://community.webshots.com/user/joe_dillett
http://www.citizenactions.org
**************************************************


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alex Bisso" <albisso at bresnan.net>
To: "[Woodcarver]" <woodcarver at six.pairlist.net>
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 5:55 PM
Subject: [Woodcarver] Need advice carving repair (Joe D. and Ivan W. 
pleaserespond if possible)



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I have been asked to repair a very nice carved wooden Quan Yin statue and 
would like to get some advice from someone who has made similar repairs. 
The statue has developed some very serious cracks with the starting at the 
base and opened up around ¾".   I am confident that I can fill the cracks 
and reshape and refinish the carving to look good but I would like to do it 
in a manner that will prevent future cracking and I am not sure the best way 
to do this.

Some thoughts I have are:

  1.. Put some pentacryl (? - the stuff that prevents green wood from 
checking as it dries) in the cracks before filling them.  My concern here is 
that the pentacryl? might prevent the fill material from bonding to the 
wood.  Is this a bad idea?
  2.. Put some of the thin surper glue in the cracks before filling them. 
Would this work.
  3.. Use a filler that is a strong bonding agent as well.  I am not sure 
just what might be good for this, especially for the wider cracks.  I am 
considering autobody bondo, possibly mixed with a little bit of fiberglass 
resin.  What other options are recommended?
  4.. Insert some wooden wedges in the cracks and secure them with 
carpenters glue.  However, I am concerned that I could crack the statue 
right in half trying to insert the wedges.  The main crack probably goes at 
least on halfway thru the wood and there are other cracks on the back side. 
Any thoughts about this?
  5.. It would be nice if there was a way to get the cracks to close up some 
before doing the filling.  I think the cracks are due from the piece being 
made in a  humid, tropical climate while here in MT it is very dry.  It does 
seem like the dryer it is, the worse the cracks are - and it has been very 
dry here.  I am also concerned that if I got them to close up some and then 
did the repair, they might open up again later.
  6.. Drill some holes right through the statue and glue in dowel pieces 
through the cracks.  My concern here is that while this might stabilize the 
cracks, there are enough cracks that this might require a lot of holes and 
surface damage.  While I am sure I could reshape the surfaces where the 
holes are, there is an intricate patterns in the robe/gown and it might be 
impossible to match that.  Any thoughts about this ?


I put a few photos of the cracked statue in an album at my picturetrail 
site.  The link to get the them is:

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?username=abisso&x=19&y=15



The statue is about 3' tall.  I am not sure what kind of wood was used in 
it - I think maybe some kind of tropical mahogany.  It is not a dense, heavy 
wood.



Any guidance that you can give me on this that is based on your first hand 
experience with similar repairs would be appreciated.  Please feel free to 
respond off-list to albisso at bresnan.net if desired.



Thanks.

ALEX









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