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- His personality is coming out
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- Roughing out the head
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- Roughed out and glued up piece of wood
I have a very interesting and also challenging project going on. I am re-making a large wooden bracket with a king’s head carved on it. It is probably about 60 to 80 years old, was positioned on the outside of the house (in Birmingham, Alabama), and is very dry and weathered. The original is extremely fragile, and pieces of the face can easily break off.
I have roughed in much of the face and beard, and will detail the face and hopefully the crown tomorrow. It is interesting that the original was made very well for being outside, as they carved it in such a way that there were no places where water was able to sit and rot it out. That is why it has lasted as long as it has.
I am guessing they will be putting some kind of external coating or heavy duty paint on it to prevent it from weathering for as long as possible. Any suggestions for this would be appreciated.
This king’s face is great, isn’t it? What a wonderful expression of peaceful authority. He also looks a little tired (or maybe that’s just the way I feel). The client that wanted the other classic “authoritative” head carved had looked at this one in my workshop and said he liked this – you can probably see some similarity between the two. I did take some ideas from this one.
Good Evening Mary:
Over 40 years ago, I carved a “Vulcan” which is on the front of my house from Oak. It is still there and hardly no sign of rot. Another good choice would be Eastern Cedar,, the only wood that was used for coffins years ago because it would not rot. Your blog did not mention the type of wood you are using for the King. Let us know and maybe there is a good solution. Lots of woods benefit from a mixture of 10%-20%penitrol and 80-90% tung oil. The thin formula will let the tung oil go deep into the wood, a second coat with less penitrol, and a final coat with pure tung oil will work for a while.
American Cedal has natural oils that resist water. I’ve seen cedar stumps over a hundred years old that still have their shape and character.
Looking good…
Roy,
Thanks for the info.
I carved this in Spanish Cedar – not sure if that is the same as Eastern Cedar or American cedar. It is nasty smelly stuff to work with, but holds up well outdoors. It also carves and appears similar to mahogany, only softer and lighter color.
I know that the original had several coats of paint on it. I am guessing they will be painting this one also.