While constructing a new home in <!—-><!—-> <!—->Alberta<!—-><!—-> 7 years ago I decide to wait on the rails and newel posts.  Four years ago I went to a local sawmill and picked up 30 seasoned newel posts 48†high by one 14†thick.  After carving a basic Jacobean Spiral in the posts I left them stored in the shop until I found the time to complete carving and sanding.

Last week I was dismayed to see almost all the posts were checked from the inside of the core.  The cracks opened up to 1 ½â€ to the exterior of the logs.  In my wisdom I have tried to wedge slivers of Mahogany lengthwise into the core before sanding but this is not working out. (Thought it would create an interesting color change).

I do not wish to fill the voids with a caulk product but am running out of ideas.  I had though to mix up a batch of fine spruce sawdust and two-compound epoxy but it doesn’t finish nicely and disappears into the voids.

In visiting other log homes I note there are some with decorative work that has split and other that have not.

Any ideas would be appreciated to solve my problem.   My rails from the same sawmill cured perfectly with no checking or splitting.