[Woodcarver] Basswood Finish

[dick carter]

>From: "Al" <aalford at interbaun.com>
>
>I am making a golfball-in-cage of basswood as a mememto for a friend who 
>got
>a hole-in-one. I am burning images on the upper four sides of the basswood
>block and relieving some of the images. I want to give the whole thing a
>nice finish (not painted) and am tending toward stain but do not want it to
>look blotchy. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
>

Mornin' Al.

Really don't know how you'd do this. Bill Russell explained the method of 
putting the ball in the
cage in Edition #2 of Carving Magazine, but he did not address the finishing 
he used. I have done quite a few & I have always used clear water-based 
acrylic to finish it up.

Basically the wood is soaked in water, the ball inserted, and the wood 
allowed to dry. If you
stain the wood, before soaking, I don't know if the stain would allow the 
wood to absorb
enough water to make it flexible enough for the ball to go inside. If you 
inserted the ball into
the cage & then stained it, I don't know how you'd be able to keep the stain 
off of the ball.

Hopefully, someone can come-up with a solution.

Dick Carter
>From the Manadnock area of NH
rhc511 at hotmail.com
Please check-out my stuff at:
http://www.picturetrail.com/cartersstuff

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