Hi - I am not a woodworker in any sense of the term, but I have a nice piece of cypress driftwood that I would like to place in a natural area of our yard. The wood was already in great shape, but I've cleaned it up and touched up a few rough spots with fine sandpaper and steel wool. My question is how to best finish it. When it's wet, it looks great just like it is. When it's dry, it loses much of its depth and appearance. I don't want to change the wood color if possible, but looking for something that will enhance or simulate the "wet look". Once again, it's going to live outside. Any recommendations are appreciated. Thanks.

This post could go into Hobbies, Tools or Gardening. You choose.:o Received an Opinel #8 knife as a gift from my son. This is the carbon steel blade with the integral locking collar. Made in Savoie, France. These knives have a world famous reputation as the knife of choice in the French vineyards and other "garden" type application. For those interested you can get a nice history from [URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinel_knife[/URL] My question is the locking collar. It seems to be rather on the tight side and hurts the fingers when trying to move it into the locking position either open or closed. While researching this knife others have also mentioned this hard to rotate collar. But also said it will loosen as you use it. I'm not a knife collector or enthusiast but would like to know if there is a way of making this collar a bit easier to move without damaging it or putting any marks on it. It's mainly a keep sake but I can see myself using it to trim my back yard grape vines just to say I used it for what it was meant for.