Which wood for Whittling?

[grahamhobbs]

I agree with Gregorach, lime is the traditional wood for carving. Most of the work done by the famous carver, Grindling Gibbons, was in lime.
However I was in Cumbria the other day and visited a stately home where there was loads of carving apparently done in oak, some of it was amazingly fine and undercut. Obviously it needed to have been done when the wood was green but because much of it was in large pieces and often thin panels, I couldn't work out how they prevented it from twisting or splitting as it dried. Anyone know?