[Woodcarver] Advice for carving repair - Thanks and more questions

[Alex Bisso]

I want to thank everyone for their suggestions for repair of the carved Quan Yin statue - got some very useful guidance and can see a path forward now.
A few comments and more questions - 
Comments:
I understand the artistic perspective and argument for no repair.  In fact, when the donor gave the statue to the church it already had some cracks around the bottom and I was asked about repairing them.  At that time they were not bad and I felt it was best to leave them alone.  However, a year + later I am amazed at how much larger the cracks are and how new ones have developed and I agree with the owners that repair is desirable at this point.  Also, there is some dissatisfaction with the dark color of the statue and refinishing it to have a more golden and brighter look is also desirable.  With this in mind, I think the repairs and repainting can be done with excellent results.
One very good result of this exercise is that I was able to visit with the donor, who has financial interest in the company that makes these (in South America).  He said the problem occurs in a lot of the carvings and was very interested in the idea that boring out the center of the carving from the bottom could relieve some of the stresses that cause the cracking.  He said he would definitely pass that information on to those who make the statues and other similar carvings.
Questions:  
How large does the hole from the bottom up into the carving have to be to be effective and how far up into the 3' tall statue do I have to go to be effective?
    I can easily drill an 11/16 a couple of feet into it from the bottom a larger hole might be more difficult. (I might be able to do a 1..25" hole to a depth of 18")
    I do not think I want to try to get the hole through the neck area and so should probably stop in the chest area to minimize the risk of coming out of the
     carving.   If I do this, is there a possibility that cracking in the head area might become more severe (there is already a small crack on the face and a couple 
     on the back of the head)
    Vic H suggested a hole from 4" to 6" in diameter but do not see that as possible to any depth over a few inches - risk of splitting the carving is too great for 
    chisel and mallet work in the hole.  Will a hole as mentioned above be sufficient to gain some benefit?
Hi Joe - I am confused by two of your comments.  On one hand you said "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." (They do expand and contract, winter and summer).  On the other hand, relative to inserting the wood wedges to fill the crack you advised "Try to do this in the winter so the crack is the widest."  It seems to me that these ideas seem to conflict.  Why would you not fill the cracks when they are smallest, or maybe midway?  Is the expanding force greater than the contracting force?  Will drilling a hole up the center of the carving make the timing of the repair less important?  
I do think that the wood in the carving is now about as dry as it is going to get and was hoping that I could do a repair/refinish that would be stable.
Relative to the beeswax.  While sounds like a good idea for  the small cracks if there was to be no refinish, I am concerned about doing this if the surface is to be repainted/stained.  Is there another way to do the smaller, finer cracks that is better for refinishing?
Input from anyone on these questions is welcomed.
Thanks again for all of your help.
ALEX
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