Post #96031 by Benzart on Sat, Jun 12, 2004 7:34 AM

For hardwood pieces that will be outdoors I used Several coats of marine varnish. Remember the person who ends up with the carving is most likley not going to do any upkeep on it so the better the finish the longer it will last. I used usually the Home Depot brand of vernish. Here are some before and after pix of carvings carved in 1990 and visited in 2001..11 years later with NO further finish added.




These carvings were hung on the side of a house in direct afternoon sunlight until purchased by this owner who displayed them in his plant nursery(thinking I was dead!)kind of like shrines. (when I showed up and took these pics, the man almost had a heart attack)
You can see some wood color fading but the finish is still glossy and fine.