[drbcarver]

In the past, when carving caricature, it has been neither sealed,
painted nor finished - just bare natural wood at the end

One reason was concern on the skin and respiratory risks ---
and carving already was a big enough challange.

Now starting flat plane caricature (Karl Oskar) on Northern
Basswood - still to end up with a natural wood.

Live in a condo. Work on the corner of my computer desk.
So do not want any fire risk, high levels of smell, major clean up.

From reading this Message Board, this is my current thinking
on what can happen after completing the knife work:

Still leave it with no finishing action.

If want to finish:
--No need to seal - since will not be adding color
--Can go directly from knife work to finishing
--Some possible finishes: Meltonian Neutral, Johnson Paste
Floor Wax, Howards Feed-N-Wax.
--Will have to experiment on scrap wood to see which works
best visually

Does the above make sense, or am I missing something?

With this approach are there any finishing risks, particularly
respiratory. It did not seem so, but I could find little/no discussion
on finishing risks for the above finishes.

,

Bob

[BobT]

There are a number of Water Based Polyurethane varnishes on the market today. In my opinion MinWax is the best. Low to no odor, no fire danger. It would seal the wood well, then wax.
Bob

[AlArchie]

Bob, depending on what you want the fisihed carving to look like, you can simply use a good paste wax for a finish on bare wood. There is no need to apply a sealer or fisish coat with these products. I've done this with several bolo's and amulets in cherry burl and figured maple. Haven't tried it on basswood or other woods, but it came out great on the aformentioned ones. I simply applied it with a soft cloth, then buffed with a shoe brush. Let it harden up a few minutes and re-apply the wax. After several coats of this I had a fine patina finish that was easily refreshed with another coat of the wax. Oh, I used the Minwax dark paste wax, but I would imagine any of the better pastewax products would work as well.

Al

[DManning]

I know of no respiratory or other problems incurred with using wax finishes.
One thing I might warn you about, especially with Basswood, is that (even using "natural" color products like Min-Wax) the end grain areas of the carving will turn out darker than the rest of it. If this is going to be a problem for you, there are "sealers" available that can be applied to those areas first. Then when you go over the whole carving, the penetration is reduced and it is more uniform.
Hope this helps and good luck,
Dan

[BobT]

Are you talking about something like a sanding sealer? I am interested. I have never left a carving natural so maybe it is time. Can you suggest any? Do you soak the wood or brush it on.
Thanks,
Bob

[DManning]

I am terrible at painting so everything I have done (with one botched exception) has been "natural" finished. I've used everything from the poly-urethane "Spar" varnishes to Min-Wax dyes. It helps when all of these are available at the local Home Supply stores.
I'm looking at my supply of Min-Wax cans now and "pre-sealer" is just what is printed on the can. I don't know if that means sanding sealer or not, but, it has been working for me. Maybe the Min-Wax web site could give you a better explanation.
I use a pipe cleaner or Q-tip to apply the sealer (just to "paint" the end grain areas). Let that dry until it is no longer "tacky". Then I dip a rag into the "stain" I want to apply and soak the whole thing with it. Don't put it on so thick that it runs, but, thick enough to really look messy. After a couple of hours, take a dry rag and rub off all the excess. Then let it dry overnight before "polishing". Hope this helps.
Dan

[BobT]

Thanks, that is enough to go on. Several places around here carry the MinWax stuff so I will try it out.
Bob

[drbcarver]

Appreciate being pointed in the direction
of MinWax as a sealer/finisher by you
all.

For my first flat plane carving I will
use Feed-N-Wax, having some at hand.

But it looks like MinWax may soon be
in my carving space.

Thanks again

Bob