After reading a the comments in the previous posts, and with some
added comments from my wife.
I really don't know what I should think about the project at this point. Well lets start off with what I have done so far. I tried Danish oil natural for the first time because I saw someones carving treated with that and it looked pretty good.
I'm not sure. but it looks, smells, and acts a lot like tung oil. After one application here are the results. One of the factors that made me choose it was that it bragged that it penetrated the wood then hardened forming a nice moisture barrier. I'm no fool and I realize that there is no perfect finish,
but I thought this would be interesting to try out. Since the log was a green log, it still has some moisture inside. Along with all that tanic acid. I'm not sure if it can be done, but I wanted to see if I could keep the moisture inside as well as protecting it on the outside. Regardless! It doesn't look too bad at the moment. It might be difficult to see in the light, but the color is a mild warm tan/ light brown ( the color of natural oak)
Cheryl likes it and wants to submit these pics to the contest. but I had some plans on the color pallet to paint her. Then there is the issue of putting a second coat on her. The first absorbed pretty fast and there was not much need to wipe off any excess. Also the natural finish will not cover up the "blackened" areas ( knots, and black spots) that I could not sand away.
Ah well. I shouldn't vent on the blog.
Just voicing all my thoughts seems to help since I will make the decision eventually anyway.
added comments from my wife. 
I really don't know what I should think about the project at this point. Well lets start off with what I have done so far. I tried Danish oil natural for the first time because I saw someones carving treated with that and it looked pretty good. 
I'm not sure. but it looks, smells, and acts a lot like tung oil. After one application here are the results. One of the factors that made me choose it was that it bragged that it penetrated the wood then hardened forming a nice moisture barrier. I'm no fool and I realize that there is no perfect finish,
but I thought this would be interesting to try out. Since the log was a green log, it still has some moisture inside. Along with all that tanic acid. I'm not sure if it can be done, but I wanted to see if I could keep the moisture inside as well as protecting it on the outside. Regardless! It doesn't look too bad at the moment. It might be difficult to see in the light, but the color is a mild warm tan/ light brown ( the color of natural oak)
Cheryl likes it and wants to submit these pics to the contest. but I had some plans on the color pallet to paint her. Then there is the issue of putting a second coat on her. The first absorbed pretty fast and there was not much need to wipe off any excess. Also the natural finish will not cover up the "blackened" areas ( knots, and black spots) that I could not sand away.
Ah well. I shouldn't vent on the blog.
Just voicing all my thoughts seems to help since I will make the decision eventually anyway.
2 comments:
She looks fantastic, Ethan! To color, or not to color. That is the question. Colored and natural are two different animals. Each has its strong points. The eye is naturally drawn to the color because, well, it's colored. You just have to decide whether she is a color elf or a wood-tone elf.
What a fantastic job! I don't work with "green" wood, so I can't offer any advise about how to keep the moisture inside. The only way I know how is to fully paint the grain ends of wood with paint. Obviously now what you want to do on your piece!
If you do decide to color your elf, can I suggest using a very thinned out color? Then you can have the grain show through, and maybe you wouldn't need to color the whole thing?
What contest are you entering it in??
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