How to paint chainsaw carving ?
 

So yesterday I bought my wife for Christmas a 3' tall chainsaw carved American bald eagle . It is a surprise gift . Anyway it has been on display outside at the carvers location and it's been raining a lot here . I currently have it in my man cave garage with the heat on .

The carver said to use oil based paints once the wood has dried . Or just spar varnish or urethane if we want to leave it natural . I will leave that decision to my wife after Christmas .

If we decide to paint it what method of application ? Do we use brushes ? Or an air brush ? I don't have an air brush but they are cheap enough to purchase . And I think because it will be displayed out in the weather I would apply a clear finish over the paint . Thoughts ?

Interesting.

I don't have enough experience to give you a good answer.

1 If it's been wet, I think it should be really dry before painting. That can take months.
2 I'd also be concerned about it drying to the point that it develops lots of cracks in the drying process due to shrinking. (if you've ever had a cutting board that got washed crack, you know what I mean).

Good luck. You may want to find a bunch of woodworkers to get some answers too (we have some here).

A pic is required :)!

Did some internet research and I think I have a baseline . I will let it dry in the man cave until Christmas day . Then will leave it outside on our front porch which is covered .

Many carvers let the carving dry " a little bit " and then hit it with 6-10 coats of boiled linseed oil thinned 50% with paint thinner . They apply one coat after another not allowing them to dry until the last coat . This apparently helps stop cracking .

Then the piece can be stained or painted as desired . Once complete a final top coat of spar varnish or urethane is applied . We shall see 😁

I was wondering about something like that. The BLO polymerizes and will therefore seal the wood (sealing stuff in AND out). For that sort of thing, thinning with turpentine helps the penetration into the wood. BLO / turpentine (or thinner) is very commonly used. Also, BLO / turpentine / beeswax, but that's probably not good if you're going to paint it.

That sounds like a pretty good plan. I wonder if the BLO then dictates a certain type of paint (ie oil based vs water based).

absolutely, I was thinking it.

Oil based vs acrylic paint seems both are used in the videos I watched . I will use oil if we decide to paint . If we leave it as carved another technique is lightly burning the surface with a torch .

Some guys recommend burning just to get rid of the chainsaw bar oil on the wood before finishing . I really didn't want this to turn into a science project but I see where it is heading 😋

The eagle has landed 😋

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1670779972.jpg

A wood worker on a photo forum I frequent puts his wood in a paper bag with wood chips. He weighs the wood when he first puts it in the bag, then weighs it a couple weeks later, then another couple of weeks. When it quits changing weight he knows it's dry and won't crack as he turns it. He makes bowls that are really nice looking.

Update: So the carving has been drying in my man cave garage until Christmas . Since Christmas it has been drying on our covered front porch . Today's forecast was sunny and high 50's so decided to start the process .

I poured a quart of boiled linseed oil into a paint bucket and thinned about 25% with mineral spirits . I brushed a lot of coats working from top to bottom . At least 10 coats as I stopped counting . I used the entire mix .

So now it can dry for a week or two and then the painting will begin . We will paint the head white and the beak and talons yellow/gold . Will do some brown paint on the body but we want to leave a good portion of the natural carving. Last step will be a clear varnish or urethane .

Here is a pic after the BLO application .

That's gonna be awesome!

Already is :)

Thanks . And to top it off the wife loved the gift 👍

Great job so far, Rick!

Excited to see how it turns out.

Here are some photos posted on our local Nextdoor today.......a local nest......

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1672367036.JPG
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1672367036.JPG
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1672367036.JPG
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1672367036.JPG
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1672367036.JPG
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1672367036.JPG
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1672367036.JPG
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1672367036.JPG
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1672367036.JPG
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1672367036.JPG

Hey guys update time ;) . About two weeks ago my wife started painting the carving . It's taking 3 coats to get the color and consistency she's happy with . We are now finished with the yellow/black/white . Now she will start with the brown . Not going to paint all of the body , we think we will start on the flat surfaces on the back and see how it looks . We are using oil based paint so letting it dry a day between coats .

Ironically I was driving a customers car through the mountains yesterday morning and I spotted an eagle perched in a tree . It was in the sun and just looking majestic ! Just a fantastic creature to see in the wild . It's the first time I have seen one on this mountain loop I drive . Anyway here are two pics of how he looks as of this morning .

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1678386075.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1678386075.jpg

Interesting to see the Georgia version of a carver verses Seattle NW style.

We've got tons of bear carvings here.

It seems like everyone around here has bear decorations . We have a yearly festival called bear on the square . But I wanted something different and I really liked this eagle . And more importantly so did my wife 😁

Finished painting the eagle this morning . Now have to work on how we want to display it .

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1679001598.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1679001598.jpg

What do you guys think about a clear coat over the paint ? And what would you use ? Spar varnish as an example is not clear it is more of an amber . We don't want that especially over the bright white . We used Rust-Oleum oil based paint for all of it .

This is going to be displayed in our front yard so it will see all weather conditions . Because of our intense sun I think additional layers of clear would be helpful . But finding a true clear finish that will work over oil based paint has been a challenge based on my internet searches . Closest I have found is Thompson's water seal but not sure how that would work over paint ?

It looks awesome :)! Can't imagine that Thompsons would penetrate and help much over paint tho' ... but I have no clue :D.

Paging Milt and other wood guys....