Palm TIki Rescue

Our last CL finds were a trio of friends that have seen their fair share of New England weather.

Legend has it that they started out as Florida Palms and were shipped up our way quite a few years ago.
As you can hopefully tell from the picture they have a fair bit of surface wear/patina. (Yeah, I have been pulling splinters out of my hands since we picked them up)
Im pretty sure they have never been treated in any way.

It would be great to keep them with us for as long as possible.
We do plan on using them outside and will pull them in for the winters.

What is your recommendations for older Palm carvings?
Spray, coat, treat, or just let age gracefully?

A light sanding & a UV outdoor rated clear coat
should do it.

You can't buy patina, I'd leave them as is.

I suggest you be very careful moving that one on the right in the pic. It looks as the sides of the mouth are all that support everything above it, and that's a lot! That's the point that will break, and it will break if it continues to be the support. Maybe you could mount it so there is support from above, maybe against a wall?
Palm is inherently weak, and these are already older and weaker.

Yeah, the patina is part of their charm. Sanding them would remove far to much material. The surface is like a brittle porous sponge at this point.
I think at the very least we should probably try to seal the bases to prevent additional rot. (Epoxy or filler?)

Maybe we will test some areas on the back side with some spar urethane and see what happens.

Leave them alone. You bought old tikis - leave them as old tikis. The only reason to try repairing them would be so you can mount them (if the palm can not hold screws). If you feel you must do something - keep them away from moisture (indoors). Even in the state they are now, they will last for several years.

if they were mine AND i wanted to preserve them for a long time BUT i also want them outside, then i would apply some Minwax Wood Hardener. Let it soak in good. that's probably all i'd do unless they really started to deteriorate. It will leave a slightly glossy finish (because it's plastic), however will preserve the rest of the patina (color and surface wear).

there are also things like spray on laquer and acrylic. i like wood hardener for stuff like this bc it soaks in and plasticizes any spongy places in the wood.

Those are cool. I agree with Bill in that you can't buy patina. Many try to "create" that look but few achieve it. Also Big T (or the mad scientist of finishing) has a great point.

On 2015-06-05 23:20, AlohaTexasTikiCo wrote:
Big T (or the mad scientist of finishing)

HA! He does have a few tricks up his sleeve.