Explanation of "in the round" carving:

When carving, David can use several different types of stock, each giving him different results in the finished piece. Many larger pieces, or pieces in which he wants to avoid cracks, are carved either from quartered wood or from flat stock. Recently, David has been using more round stock, raw wood in which you can see the tree's rings going all the way around. When using cedar, David's favorite wood, this type of stock always cracks. In fact the cracks are there before he starts carving and they stay pretty stable, meaning the cracks generally do not open up further and new cracks do not form. These cracks, as well as other "imperfections" in the wood are part of the character of the original wood carving. They also allow David to carve more quickly and we can keep the prices lower. He usually tries to place the cracks in the back of the piece, off the face, so they do not interfere with the expression and personality of the carving. If you think that cracks in your David Frykman original wood carving will bother you, we suggest picking a piece that was not carved "in the round."