Post #492397 by SDshirtman on Fri, Nov 6, 2009 1:41 PM

Ok here's a better update with lots of pictures.

Putting on some stain..

I liked the color when he was wet but when he dried the next day he lightened up quite a bit so I hit him again.

After the second coat of stain was dry I did some design work on him using a wood burner.

I also hit him with a coat of oil based spar urethane.

He soaked up quite a lot of the spar. I considered letting him fully cure so I could sand him again but didnt like the
thought of yet another sanding session. The directions on the can said to do the second coat within 12 hours or re-sand. I chose to recoat within 12 hrs.
I thought the second coat was harder because I couldn't see see where I had already been as easily as the first coat. The hardest part by far was getting into the mouth and under his teeth.

I still have to seal the bottom once he cures a little harder as he's going to live in my backyard. I'm calling him finished. My wife took WAY too many pictures of this project but here are some of the final shots.
Detail of the burning. Theres something odd going on here. The rest of him is cured pretty well but everywhere I used the burner is semi tacky. I'm wondering if there is some kind of reaction going on. While burning him I was constantly wiping oil off of him that was being released from the wood. Kind of like a tattoo artist does. I'm really hoping these parts will cure properly in time. You can also see the subtle highlights I did with the airbrush here.

Sir-Mix-A-Lot would be proud.

I like the way the satin finish mellowed out. I was worried that it was going to stay super glossy.




So I'm calling him done.

[ Edited by: SDshirtman 2009-11-06 13:42 ]

[ Edited by: sdshirtman 2009-11-23 22:46 ]