My fresh palm logs are molding?

Anyone ever have this happen? what to do about it? I have them standing up in the garage. Should i seal them?

Thanks

Welcome to TC Tikimecula! Nice to have a new carver nearby. Polynesiac told me that its best to get some polyurethane and spray it on the ends to seal them before they start to mold. You can leave the bark on the logs until you are ready to work on them, then strip the bark later.

I also heard somewhere on TC that you can put a diluted bleach solution on the wood to remove tiki rot. I don't remember how many parts water to bleach, but you may want to do a search on this.

Good luck, post pics as you go, and ask lots of questions. Many TC carvers will be glad to help out as you go.

lay them down
raise them off the concrete floor
sealing ends prevents cracks and slows drying time - doesn't really help for mold
and spray some mold remover on them when the mold appears (just like wood furniture you may have outside)

and read the big long carving post too - loads of good info in there

"Hey, at least I'm housebroken."

[ Edited by: Polynesiac on 2004-09-21 14:26 ]

Thanks for the info. I have read the carving post, tons of good info. have not had time to pick up the chisels lately. got a nice score of palm logs the other day, so i guess it's time again. will post some pics when i begin.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=8924&forum=7&vpost=90316

Checked out your link. Those are totally cool! No. 2 just gives me a Rasta feelin' for some reason, though no dreads. No. 4 was a total leap, though. That one looks pretty nice. Deep cuts, nice curves. And I thought you were a rookie with just 20 posts! I guess you're just spending a lot more tme with the chisel than the computer. I'm looking forward to seein' what's next from you. Keep us all posted.

Direct sun should keep the mold at bay.

Direct sun should keep the mold at bay.

theoretically, yes. Humidity plays a major role too. If I stand my un carved palm on their ends (on any type of surface outside my house- concrete, wood )without sealing them - mold grows like crazy. (takes longer with them standing on wood, quicker on concrete).
laying the uncarved palm logs with untreated ends down on their side, mold grows a little ( a little white fuzz), but not bad and seems to stop at a point. (this is for palm logs both in direct sunlight - in an area with good air circulation - and in my garage). The mold is very easy to remove - I use an angle grinder when I carve anyway, so I grind away the thin layer of mold (I do this anyway to round the ends).
If you seal the bottom of your standing tiki palm with several (more than 4) coats of polyeurathane - or whatever you use - it takes a while for mold to grow, and it depends on how dry the log is and where it is and if it's standing or on its side. Mold shouldn't grow if it's on its side, and most likely won't grow if the palm is standing either (with good air circulation and sunlight).
Unsealed carved outside tikis (or tikis in damp areas with bad air cirvulation) will get mold all over, once again depending on how wet the log still is. Mold remover works fine in this instance, but your best bet is to seal the tiki. If it's outside, and depending on the type of sealant you use, and it gets moldy, use a mold remover that is safe for stained wood products. Don't stress about mold, not only is it a really cool organism, but it's very easy to deal with.
Hope this helped and didn't just bore you to death.
Can you tell I'm not at Hukilau? :)

"Hey, at least I'm housebroken."

[ Edited by: Polynesiac on 2004-09-24 08:42 ]

Spray them with lysol!, works for me!.

Ok I know the mold is no big deal but I am growing or roting something inside of the palm log. It has started at the end and is growing inward. It is red and then it turns black. I am cutting as much of it out as I can but I dont want to do much more because I am going to run out of log. Have any of you had this hapen. It also smells like it is roting. Thank you. Bob

Yep, this is ONE of the reasons why I quit carving palm logs......Wait till you get one done, think it's all dry, then ship it to someone. Next thing you know they are calling you about this mold all over it. Not good. Palm will mold until the log is pretty much COMPLETELY dry. I have tried everything to try to stop this problem. Bleach is only a temporary fix. My advice is to let the logs dry totally before you carve them or if you are in a hurry move on to another type of wood.

Tiki G.

Oh yeah, if you smell something stank, it's rot. Get another log. That is one funk odor that will stick to your skin.....

There are some varieties of palm that are Uncarvable. They rot and turn to Mush and never will cure enough to carve. Royal palm and Queen palm ate 2 that come to mind. they have fairly Hard bark which I guess is what gives them the strength to stand up. The bark from the Royal palm Can be cured and used like lumber. It really has a nice grain to it. It sounds like you got hold of some uncarvable palm. That is Not how good palms work. yes they are stringy and full of splinters, but have been carved for centuries. Cabbage, Coconut,and Washingtonian are all good species to carve.

Thanks. It is a mexican fan log and the top part that I started was roting so I trashed that and then started with the botom one. the inside was great where I was carving out the mouth but the top and botom had something that was turning the wood red and had somewhat of a stink(not as bad as the first one I was carving) I carved out as much as I could last night and it whent in about 2"s. I will bleach it and see what hapens. It is a big log and I have put some time into it allready and did not want to trash this one also.

[ Edited by: BobFJ40 on 2005-01-13 20:22 ]

Hi, Bob. I took my mexican fan palm carving to work & set it in my cube so I could take it to the park for a lunchtime carving session. All of my coworkers immediately started complaining about the stench & I had to take it back out to the car. Yeah, palm stinks, it's stringy, & looks terrible while you're carving it. It sprouts white mold overnight (usually when you want to show off your carving to friends). But it does carve EASY. And it sands up nice with 60 grit after it's dried a bit. And the stench WILL disappear once you've got it all stained & varnished up nice. I'm gonna try some hardwood after I finish this palm tiki that I'm working on, but I will definitely keep a few pieces of fan palm in my garage for later. Good luck with your piece. Please share pix when ready!

BTW, I've noticed lots of different colors in mex. fan palm. Red streaks, light spots, & some really dark spots. They tend to lighten a bit when it dries, and stain makes them all blend.

A-A

"Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
-Pablo Picasso

[ Edited by: Aaron's Akua on 2005-01-13 22:19 ]

All palms don't Stink!. Cabbage or Sabal palm actually have a Sweet smell. I'm not sure I would mess with this mexican fan. Maybe they like refried beans or Hot tamales???

Benz you are correct sir'.....just the rotten ones do.

[ Edited by: tikifreak on 2005-01-18 07:43 ]

OK, I have successfully used the search option to avoid creating a new thread, and in the process brought an old thread back from the grave! Yay for me.

Anyway, I am experiencing mold issues mainly on the faces of the tikis I've already carved, and pretty much nowhere else. So far I have not put anything on them. I put them in the sun and it stops.

Should I spray some kind of polyurethane sealer or something on them when they're done to avoid this?

It rains like hell here just about every afternoon and I don't know what is worse...leaving them out in the weather to constantly be soaked & then sun-baked every day,....or keep them in the garage out of the sun where it's kinda damp & they get all moldy.

After reading this thread I am still a little confused as to exactly what parts of the log I should seal, and with what.

[ Edited by: pjc5150 2009-07-20 12:30 ]

Mold means the wood is not fully dried out yet. Mine would mold if they were kept in my dark garage, and clear up when kept out in the sun. What part of the world are you in, where it's so rainy?
I would not seal it if it's still molding/damp, but I know others have done it.
Maybe build a little greenhouse type thing in the yard, where the sun can hit it, but not the rain?