Over time your carving may crack, sometimes very minor, other times quite large. There is no way to stop the cracking, its the nature of the wood, an carving round logs. Keeping carvings indoors will NOT help with the cracking as most of our homes are quite dry. The cracks can be repaired however. Its a relatively simple process of gluing in wood shims, then grinding them down, re-staining or painting and re-sealing the carving up. After the repair it is almost as good as new and can sometime be nearly impossible to tell there was a big crack through the piece. If you have purchased a piece from myself I can repair it for you, it must be either brought to me or shipped to me (you will also be responsible for return shipping). Email me to enquire further.