Peeling bark off a tree; general tips on carving green wood; cracking in wood; Japanese Buddhist statutes + hollowing+hachet

http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/making-buddha-statues.html
diff kinds of wood names in chinese and english

http://www.sculpture.net/community/showthread.php?t=1114

Re: wood keeps splitting This is a constant problem with wood. Some kinds of wood are more prone to splitting and cracking or "checking" than others. In general, harder woods like cherry, oak, any kind of nut or fruit tree, are finer grained and crack less. Splitting them requires real effort. Soft woods like pine, fir, alder, split and crack very easily. Also, wet or green wood cracks or "checks" as it dries. So, try to get seasoned wood to start with. There are exceptions and some counter-intuitive things about wood, though. The real totems of the Pacific Northwest were carved out of whole cedar trees. Cedar is very soft, straight-grained, and splits very easily. But it lasts and lasts outdoors, and some of those totems are hundreds of years old. I think they used trees which had died and dried naturally and very slowly, while still standing. Then they cut and carved them. Also, wood which has become water-logged and sunk in cold water for long periods of time, takes on some characteristics that are highly valued by musical instrument makers (like Stradivari) and they are very resistant to cracking. Historically, Chinese and Japanese as well as German wood carvers went to great lengths to hollow out sculptures so there'd be only thin cross sections with no central mass to dry unevenly, which is what causes cracking. Most modern wood carvings are cracked and patched if you look closely. Hope this helps. Let's see some pics of these pieces.



http://kryptowrite.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Carve-Beautiful-Wood-Art-from-Dead-Oak-and-Other-Hardwood-Trees

keep ends sealed so the log releases moisture slowly
go in layers, after each layer, seal the ends, so water escape slowly without cracking
go slowly