Arnold Palmer carving restoration

The Dominion Valley Country Club had a 10 – 12 yr. old stump carving that was deteriorating, so we came out and cut it off the base and brought it back to the studio to fix it up. The carving was carved by someone with the initials “MJ”.

Step 1 was to use the angle grinder to sand all the black flaky surface off. Then a dremel and die grinder were used to reach some of the detail areas. It’s amazing how fast it comes back to life!

The next challenge was to fix the large hole in the shoulder blades and shoulder. A chainsaw was used to cut a shape out with clean edges at a depth of roughly 3″. Then, pieces of oak were cut to fit and were glued and screwed in place with gorilla glue.

Next, the new wood was chainsaw carved and then angle grinded to match the surrounding forms.

Next, wood shims were used to fill existing cracks using gorilla glue.

OK! Now it’s ready for some oil wood preservative!! My favorite oil is Benjamin Moore Arborcoat – Natural – 326-10. It really looks great on oak.

The oil revealed a definite color difference between the old and new wood.  So the oil was sanded off the new wood and some layers of minwax stain were applied to darken it. Then, a final coat of oil was applied to seal the stained wood.

Next, the carving was laid on it’s back so the base could be cut off. Unfortuantely the base was not usable, so it was cut off and a 1/2″ thick steel plate was attached with black pvc wedges underneath the feet to get a natural lean to the stance. 1/2″ thick x 10″ long lag screws went up through the legs, and a 3 ft. threaded rod went up one leg.

Epoxy clay was used to fill a small area of bad wood in the foot, and then was painted with acrylics to blend in with the wood.

Here’s a picture of the loading crew helping to load it into the truck for delivery.

Here are some before and after’s and the final pics!

Watch this video that shows the time lapse and behind the scenes footage of the process!

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