Greetings

[Chef Greg]

Hi I was Chef for 25 years specialising in the culinary arts ( Ice / margarine sculptures, fruit & veg carvings) I now mainly work in wood & sandstone. I recently finished a sculpture of a thumb a piece of wattle, it is approx 4 ft tall & will be positioned out side & was wondering what sort of finish to put on it , wax , polyurethane , etc. Any advice or ideas gratefully accepted
Regards
Greg

[albasia_rudy]

I want to give suggestion , but not quite sure what kind of wattle it made of. In general , Polyurethane suites the requirements , because It's flexible , can whitstand UV exposure for several years , but also weather resistance.

But still , there's many other things that we should pay attention on , which is the kind of wattle , the surface preparation , is it easily peeling off by itself , is it many cavities inside , etc.Because It's no good to coat something not durable with something durable , unless we apply enough thickness , with ensuring penetration and proper adhesion , then the coating might improve the substrate durability.
The problem with wax is , in almost all cases , it applied by rubbing. So many unreached point will not get any protection , and the film that we build is not a coating film , but only a water impermeable film.

Rudy

[underfoot]

Hi Greg, and welcome to the forum,
come on down to the carving/ sculpture section and show us some pics of your work,
(including ice and vegie sculpts)
as to a surface finish for your piece, I would stay well clear of urethane type coatings,
if its going outside it WILL get surface cracks no matter what coating you give it,
my suggestion would be regular applications of a good quality decking oil,
and next time you are making outdoor sculpture see if you can find a species that will stand up to those harsh conditions,
the best IMO would be white beech, but tallowood or turpentine would be ok.

[Ed Reiss]

Welcome Greg....we'll trade you info for beer & hamburgers

[munruben]

Welcome Greg. would love to see some of your work. Sounds really interesting.

[Chef Greg]

Thanks for all the advise , very much apprecaited , Ive posted a photo of the thumb in my album as I couldnt upload it here, i will post a few more photos of my work soon . again thanks
Kind regards
Greg

[Claw Hama]

Sorry Greg greatly disapointed when I saw the thumb, sorry mate! Actually I think it looks more like a finger an amazing 4ft finge, Really nice work Greg can't wait to see more.

[Calm]

Greg i made these seats last year and my research found that the ony finish i could find/have recommended that didnt need to be applied at least yearly was this one.

Attachment 104432

They have not been outside yet for any length of time but they havent changed since they were finished.

I will probably be howled down but that is what i could find out.

Cheers

[Chef Greg]

Thanks Claw Hama for the kind words . I was thinking along the same lines Caallmm. The person that bought it lives a far way away & I cant see myslef popping by for a touch up. Thanks

[Captain Cain]

next time you are making outdoor sculpture see if you can find a species that will stand up to those harsh conditions,

I've a few pieces 'outdoors' that were probably not ideally suited to outdoor life - but I love the way they wear and age in the extremities.

Not meant to be advice.