question about finishing

i ussually use polyurethane, never used varninsh before but since im in florida staying with my uncle and carved him a tiki while i was here i was just using what he had around. so far im not sure how well this stuff will coat or if it will get glossy at all, just seems to soak right in esspecially the bottom end i think its had 5 coats so far and just soaks right up the endgrain. also seems to leave it a bit darker than i thought it would. heresapicfrom this morning after 2 coats last night on the lowwer section and was 5 coats on the bottom.

added some light stain to punch up the shading but seems to disappear with how dark the deft gloss brushing varnish is staying so far pic is after over 15 hours drying time.
so will it lighten more with more drying time?
will it start to gloss up with more coats?
says indoor use on the deft but not sure where it will end up so will varnish bee good enough or can it be gone over later with a thicker clear coat, without having to sand it all off and start over?

hey domin, are you using Deft Brushing Lacquer? I think theirs is a semi-gloss if that's the one you are using. That lacquer should dry clear. As for the glossiness... i'm not an expert in palm so can't really say. Wouldn't expect it to hold up outside. You can probably apply some marine varnish over it when done.

yes meant lacquer not varnish. says gloss on the can, so would expect from that for it to leave a slight coating at least with a few coats, not just soak in. ive caoted the rest now with first coat but not gone over the lowwer section again yet, but hit a bit of the top, and looks like with anouther full coat or 2 might start to look like its its got more than just a stain, but hard to say for sure. if adding something more over it ill just have to let my uncle or whoever buys it later know sine im headed back home in 2 days and this guys too big to take with me.

That carving is amazing!!!. I am just learning what to do when finished my self. I have been making plenty of mistakes along the way.

I'd go with the way the lacquer comes out
. Not every tiki has to look like a glazed donut. :wink:

Wow, only two days to finish it up. We are all interested to see how it turns out. That is a VERY nice carve!

Never tried lacquer on Palm. What I can tell you is that palm is like a sponge, it soaks whatever you put on it into the fibers. Lacquer may be too thin to seal the fibers?? With Poly it usually only takes 2 or 3 coats to create a "shell". If you have limited time I would use Poly.

Great carve!

ok came out ok only took 4 coats last one kinda touchy thick here thin or none there and got a light glaze to it just didnt like the looks with no glaze at all just looked like stain on raw wood. still could use a coat or 2 more on the inside part of the head dress that part of the log was really light weight and soft andwas hard to carve so i didnt smooth it up all that well. so ill try anouther coat later tonight and let it be since we leave early tommorrow. pics in my other thread.

and thanks for the responses.

I'm with Bill on this , not a fan of glossy stuff