Carving Care

Care for your carving: 

  • I apply two coats of outdoor grade urethane. This protects it from the elements such as rain and sun.
  • It is a good idea to add another coat of an outdoor grade urethane each summer or as you see fading or peeling for protection for continued protection.
  • Although my carvings are treated for outdoor use they will last longer if you do the following: 
    • Keep it out of direct sunlight 
    • Keep it under cover so it does not get rained on 
    • Place it on a two small pieces of wood to keep the bottom of the carving off the ground as to allow air movement below the carving  
  • NOTE: Wood dries over time and has the possibility to crack.  That is normal and adds to the character 😊  

With proper care your carving can give you years of enjoyment. 

This is the urethane that I have been using. I purchase it from Menards.

Urethane in direct elements will have a tendency to peel. I recommend adding another coat of outdoor rated urethane each summer or as you see it is peeling.
Wood that is set directly on the ground can decay due to humidity and bugs. I highly recommend putting the carvings on something to reduce the moisture from touching the log. In addition to that I prefer that the log also has a space under it to “breath”. In this case I used some scrap tube steel. Treated wood scraps work really well too. This allows air to move under the log and drying out any moisture.