Mahogany mat finnish

Good day,

My husband and I have a huge untreated mahogany buddha statue we bought 3 years ago from vietnam. It is kept inside but is slightly weather damaged from some water that leaked into the shipping container it arrived in.

We have not treated it because we don't want to make the finnish too dark (dark at all really), shiny or sticky. We would basically like it to stay as close to the natural wood look and tones as possible, but also prevent further drying out or damage.

Any suggestions on the best product and or process we could use.

Thank you,

Hilary

Mahogany, Cuban or Honduran, will inevitably get dark once you apply any finish. I use to work with Cuban Mahogany (it is a everyday woodworking wood here in Puerto Rico) and even without a finish it gets dark a lot. If you are looking for a natural mate-satin finish I recommend you several coats of Tung-oil. I'm sure you will find in this forum how tung oil is applied.. sorry if I do not explain it, but my English is not so good explaining processes... I hope my post show you the way to go....

Agree tung oil is the way to go. Make sure you find a "pure" tung oil rather than a tung oil fortified with polyurethane as in some floor tung oils as they leave a more glossy finish with a film build.
Tung oil is good for colour retention. Bunnings has one in a 1L can.