I like the little one underneath you. One pic you have the little paws sticking out. Too cute.
Sorry, I don't know anything about cedar. Just that I enjoy the fragrance

@Zoohome lol. That’s Rusty, my friend’s Chug (chi-pug).

Yeah, it was in the final sanding I found it. I was putting pressure on it for the crack to show up. It’s our native Oregon Cedar. I believe it is the red cedar. It was from a old cut in February, after the snowstorm. It seems pretty wet inside too. My maple pieces are dry and hard as a rock. Lol. There are a few birch logs I might try. Thanks, I feel better.

I’m keeping the one I’m working on in plastic, when I’m not doing anything with it. Hopefully it will slow the drying process. It’s what I do with clay. Lol

@Annaleda good luck with the plastic bag... I've never heard of that. in my experience something cut last February, or last year, it's still pretty new. most of the wood I use, that has dried naturally, has been cut years ago. there are some kiln-dried Woods that are fine and stabilized. if you can sense that is still contains moisture, the splitting may continue. best of luck though. sometimes you can find some old wood stuff people are throwing out that make great pieces to work from. I got a bunch of wood from a cedar porch that was great.

I did think of a key, like the picture. Bu5 it would have been small, and I’ve not done one before. @hankster, have you ever done something like that?

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No, I was just doing a final sanding and it showed up. In the pic, I am pushing the crack so it can be seen. I think it was there the whole time.