recycled statues

       well i will be first in line when they come out with solar chainsaws. i imagine if you could link enough solar arrays together, charge up a bunch of batteries ,  and run the juice through an inverter then i would have enough juice to run some of the electric saws out there. it usually takes me about two tankfulls of gas to carve a statue of this size. which isn't a bad use of hydrocarbons. not necessary , but then again a lot of things are not necessary. so i planted 500 trees so far this year and may still do a few more. that should offset my use of gas for carving. recycling is good and i am recycling when i use a piece of wood for a carving. now when i protect that carving from weather insects , and repair cracks as they come up. i am in effect storing carbon. not a bad green thing to do. this is the case with this carving above. 

      the owner wanted me to repair a huge crack in an obscure area. i repaired the crack by simply taking gorilla glue and filling the gap after saturating the area with water. the water helps the glue which is waterproof to expand chemically and fill the crack. i have heard talk of adding sawdust to the glue and then force into the wet crack. this can be sanded to a fine finish. tite bond 3 also works in this application well i have heard. after the glue has set, filled the crack and  hardened, then  you could use a grinder or a chainsaw like i did to finish down the crack area. this is a 3 year old carving and was carved out of spruce pine and painted its unique color. i use oil artist colors as i like the opportunity to mix the color i deem appropriate to the carving. the pine is a stark white compared to the final color. the area of the crack repair not only needs to be finished down but also painted that same color i used way back when. 

     well we are not at loews folks and we do not have a color analyzer except the one i am looking through now . and i have known them to let me down . but all in all the repair looked great and i added a new coat of hellsman marine spar varnish. to reseal the surface against damaging u.v. rays, sunlight and weather exposure.in general. now when i coat the carving i start at the top of the carving with a one inch brush working in long strokes down the statue to the base. any runs will be noticed and can be worked into the lower sections as you go along. 

     after i finish this sealing of this carving it should be good for a substantial number of years as he does keep it in under shelter. this carving should last for years if maintained such as this. also if you are placing out of door on the ground. it is advisable to place bricks or place the carving on a rock large enough to extend beyond the base. if you cover the base with mulch it would be ok but a more preferable way of doing it may be to use gravel with a 6 mm film plastic weed barrier around the base with drainage to one side preferably. outside unprotected carvings will require more maintenance including touching up of colors. if you feel that these repairs are beyond the scope of your ability then contact the carver who carved your carving in the first place.

       the bear in the above photo had a crack running alongside his nose and down around his snout and into the chest area. after filling the crack i used a white transparent paint to thinly approximate the natural aging of the sun on the sculpture. i didn't  do anything to the chewed ears of the bear as it was the owners of the bears dog that had chewed on it and it was sentimental to him. this bear will be standing for awhile because of the repairs done.  this isn't a bear i carved but agreed to repair it for the owner. 

        in the above photo i had made repairs on one side of this statue or the other. see if you can tell where a long crack existed before i started repairs. i will have answer in next blog page. 

       most carvers don't guarantee a piece of wood to not crack in the first place, all wood will crack sooner or later. it is the extent of the cracking you should be concerned with. but some of the more conscientious carvers will take the time to make repairs on their carvings , and i will make repairs on other carvers carvings as necessary .this again is as long as i feel i am talented enough to justify my repairs. most people because of whatever the reason fail to properly take care of their carving. the most important thing is crack repair and sealing the finish to preserving a statue for long term presentation. if you have any questions feel free to contact me at kdavis3051a@google .com and state your question and i will get you the information back to you as soon as possible.