Finishing a green project to prevent splitting

I have to shape an Olympic torch handle from a branch of an unidentified tree. My first attempt just resulted in a lovely piece of wood becoming a split piece of wood in a few days. I don't have time to season the wood or treat it for weeks before working it. If I work it, is there something I can cover the finished article in that will stop it from splitting? Would bee's wax do the job? I'm assuming I need to trap the moisture inside the wood. Any advice would be helpful, as the school summer fair for which it is intended is in a couple of weeks and I need to get this job completed. :?

Rick mate ..its not going to happen.....no matter what you do short of encapsulating it in resin, sooner or later it will split.

there are a couple of options that have been well canvased that can accelerate the drying process and they all have to be started before you finish the work.

If it is small enough or can be broken down to small enough pieces...drying in the microwave oven can get you real dry in under a week.....just run the microwave on high till the timber is warm..no more and let it rest for half and hour or more and hit it again..and again and again.....don't get impatient though
Some report that using the defrost cycle works well.
You use an accurate digital scale to keep track of the moisture content.



Treating with Poly Ethelene Glycol...PEG....Patric Spielman wrote a book on the subject.

Doing a similar process but using a bath of strong detergent.

All the above it is common to rough turn to reduce the wood volume and thus drying time.

cheers