Post #541499 by TikiTres on Fri, Jul 9, 2010 10:58 AM

I bought three palm tikis two years ago and coated two of them with Thompsons. All three have turned grey like an old cedar fence, but the two that were coated look a lot more weathered than the one that wasn't. I recently bought a palm tiki pole from Bosko and his advice was similar to Aloha's- use spar varnish on it to keep it looking fresh. He also said to apply many coats to the top & bottom which makes sense because end grain tends to wick water. This particular pole sat indoors in a gallery for a couple of years so it is already dried out. I will be displaying it in a covered location away from rain & UV. I've read in threads that some of the carvers here will store their palm logs in a hot, dry shed for a year or more to dry them out before carving them. So it sounds like the best approach is to dry the logs out first, then carve them, then seal them with spar varnish.