Palm wood canoe

Jane C. MacKnight <mackjane<-a t->fs< . >isu< . >edu> writes

>I need some advice about preserving a new canoe carved from the
>trunk of a tropical palm.

I think conservators would agree that a sealant applied to the
object would be a double mistake, both in terms of what it would do
to the object, its appearance, and its future, and that it is
unlikely to do what you want it to.  A better solution would be to
provide a packing crate that can maintain whatever RH levels are
considered optimum and can continue to play this role for storage,
if necessary, with some augmentation on site.  In general, such a
crate should have volumes of hygroscopic material inside and have
water-vapor barriers on the outside.  Since weight and total size of
the crate are presumably important as they relate to shipping cost,
it may be that providing the desired RH on site would be easier
using other, that is, more bulky means.

I am sure that other colleagues who work with shipping containers
can provide specs for the shipping container.  On-site, holding a
high RH for a few months can be accomplished by many different
methods depending on how much money and manpower are available.  If
there are people available to monitor the RH and make adjustments,
then high-tech is not required, just hygroscopic materials, a decent
RH meter, water, and some ingenuity to provide a sealed container
that can be opened to make adjustments.

A more difficult question is exactly what the desired RH is.  How
much do you know about the behavior of this kind of object in its
native use?  Is it kept wet? If not, how high is the RH?  Will the
controlled environment of its permanent new home be high enough?
This may turn out to be the more difficult part of this project.

B. Appelbaum

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:23
                Distributed: Tuesday, September 9, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-23-002
                                  ***