finishing wood carvings

[Ic3dcoffee]

my dad's carving a wood and ran into a problem with Odie's Oil on his detailed carvings (like tiny eyes, hair texture, etc).
The regular stuff is so thick, he was worried about it gooping up all the fine details when you wipe it off.

He called the company, and those guys were super helpful! they recommend not to use the original Odie's!
They told him to grab their thinner version, the Odie's Super Duper Oil (funny name lol).
here's what my dad does; he brushes on a thin coat. get it into all the cracks. wait about an hour, then wipe off the excess.
it's important to blow out the remaining oil in the details using an air compressor. repeat for about 3 coats.

It works great, even for outdoor pieces! Just a heads up that it's not a simple one and done wipe on finish, but it sounds like the ticket for detailed wood art!
anyone wanna share other carving tips?

 

[woodworker]

The super duper oil is way better for fine details, and using compressed air is genius for keeping the texture clean warm the wood a bit before applying oil, it helps it soak in without pooling in tight spots when dealing with carvings

 

[dennisandco]

That makes total sense, thinner oils can really save the details from getting lost under a thick finish, another thing that helps on fine carvings is doing multiple really thin coats rather than trying to get it all in one go; it builds depth without filling the texture

 

[Alan]

@Ic3dcoffee love the tip on using the thinner oil and air compressor. It makes a lot of sense for detailed work. I’ve also found that multiple really thin coats instead of one thick layer keeps all the textures crisp.

Do you ever sand between coats for super fine detail?