Billme

I wouldn't put them above the furnace, that justs accelerates the problem. The drying process must be done slowly. You could go to a wood working shop and get some sealer that is wax based to seal the end grain. Wood turners will rough turn green wood and then seal it in a variety of concoctions to slowly dry the turning to prevent cracking and minimize warping before doing the final turning. If you have smaller blocks you could try placing the blocks in a brown paper bag filled with wood shavings or saw dust to slow the drying process. Do a search for drying green wood, you'll find plenty of discussions in wood working forums. Bottom line, air drying should be done slowly (not close to the furnace) and sealing the end grain minimizes the cracking.

Thanks guys, your input is appreciated. I know I'm struggling with want vs need

Just getting started painting crank baits and learning much from all of you. Thanks My question about the HP-CS is since it has the 3.5 needle/tip is it really capable of fine detail necessary for painting baits? I have a Badger 150 and 175 that were given to me recently and after much cleaning and futzing with them I've gotten them to spray reasonably well but their performance is disappointing when I try to practice doing details, shading is OK. I just bought a HP-CS kit from a local hobby store with a 40% off coupon but have held off using it until I'm sure I want to keep it. The price of the kit is as good as any price I've found for just the airbrush on the internet. I would appreciate some input as to whether I will see some noticeable improvement in the performance of the HP-CS over the Badgers to justify keeping it. If I kept the HP-CS I thought I could use the Badgers for the base coat and some shading. All feedback is appreciated.