Bleedin' larch

[dervishcarving]

carved an owl onto a standing larch stump a coupe of days back. was 5 foot high and about 1 foot in diameter, had been cut down about 2 weeks ago and i was amazed at hoe much resin/sap was pouring out of it. I could have easily filled a cup with it. I guess it is just the time of year when they are very active but this was almost comical. I had to keep scraping it up with sawdust to get rid of it or it was filling up my saws. picture was about 20 minutes after i had made the first cuts

[Woodcrafter]

I have a couple of lumps of larch that haven't dripped a bead. Must be as its the stump and time of year.

[Joy Yeomans]

unfortunately when it dries it will crack there as well

[dervishcarving]

yep. have told the owner to oil lots and hope

[splinters]

a tip for the future Dave. ring bark the bottom of the stump a few weeks before you carve it if you can or get the home owner to get the person taking down the tree to do it. iv found it helps to get the sap to settle down lower in the stump so you don't have sap running every where and also helps to prevent it cracking a bit.

[dervishcarving]

Good plan Tom, will bear that in mind. This commission only came in on Monday and I was carving on Wednesday so not much time to prepare. Customer knows the situation, i explained the cracking risks (in particular with the very wet nature of the wood) and he was happy to go ahead. Was a pretty cheep deal as well. I'm hoping that if he oils it enough then it will minimise the effects