Maintaining Vintage Ironwood Carvings

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

I'm not sure which forum category I should post this in.

I inherited several ironwood carvings that were probably purchased between 1960 - 1985 when the original owners were living in the Sonora State of Mexico after they retired. I'm a bit concerned about the largest one. A 26 pound seal. Parts of it look rather dry and it has some hairline cracks forming along the back. I'm not certain if they have always been there or not because photos of it from the 80's are from a distance and in the shadows.

Do I need to regularly oil this carving or do anything with it? I plan to keep this one.

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[Jim Becker]

I don't think there would be any harm in lightly oiling it occasionally...really thin and remove any excess. Or...use bee's wax and buff it.

[Richard Coers]

I'm not sure anything soaks into ironwood.

[Jim Becker]

That's a good point, Richard. Perhaps polishing is the better choice.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Thanks. It's hard to find much info online about it. I will see if there is any beeswax in town. I do have an old can of Johnson's paste wax. I did find a photo from 1987 that shows the light wood area in front along the base, so at least I know that has been there all along. The rest of the photo was too dark and far away to see if the cracks were there.

[Mark Salomon]

If you use wax make sure you use a wax that will dry--Johnson's will not. Ok to use BLO but your best bet is a coat of Renaissance Wax.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

If you use wax make sure you use a wax that will dry--Johnson's will not. Ok to use BLO but your best bet is a coat of Renaissance Wax.

Thanks for that information! I do have an old can of BLO. I wanted to try out Renaissance Wax for years. I will order some.

[Jim Becker]

Be really careful with "old" BLO...or any "old" oil based product, regardless of type. "Old" BLO may not cure (it's a drying oil" and that can result in a sticky mess. It's not going to be able to penetrate a whole lot into that ironwood.

[Tom Bender]

Keeping them out of the sunlight and away from heating should help and definitely away from water (even though they are seals). You might put them in a display case to minimize outside influences. Love the way the flippers are done.

[Rick Potter]

It's been a looong time, but I seem to remember when looking at smaller objects like that in a store in TJ, they said the maker used shoe polish.

It sounded logical to me as they were supposedly done locally by small artisan shops.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Thanks for all the feedback. I ordered a can of Renaissance Wax and tried it on a small quail first and everything looked good. The seal needed quite a bit of cleaning up. Not only did it have 20+ years of thick nicotine on it, but there was an extremely careless "caretaker" living in that house along with her filthy dogs making a mess of everything. After trying several things, I finally resorted to using a magic eraser to remove the dog slobber spots and layers of nicotine. The wood has quite a bit of beautiful coloring and grain patterns to it. I could have scrubbed more nicotine layers off it, but kept hearing my dear friend scolding me because she would have been worried about her mother's ironwood.

The original owner of the ironwood carvings, my friend's mother, had a flair for decorating. I have searched the internet for similar carvings and it comes as no surprise each carver had their own style. The seal is definitely unique. I love its facial features.