Post #783190 by Prikli Pear on Thu, Jan 18, 2018 8:11 AM

For some unfathomable reason, this year winter in Texas has decided to act like winter in other parts of the world and actually be cold. We've had snow. Twice. Sleet. Freezing rain. For comparison, last winter we had a total of 390 chill hours (ie, the total number of hours spent below 45F, a number closely watched by fruit tree growers). This winter we topped 500 hours before the end of December. So that's driven me indoors, where I started work on a sign for the Lagoon, among other things.

After noodling around on the computer and coming up with an acceptable graphic design, I printed it out on paper, the transferred that design onto a board using my good old Xacto knife and a pencil. Once that was done, I used my trim router to carve out the big area and my Dremel to get the details. I always include too much detail work. I'm dumb that way. I have to confess that this would've been a perfect job to use the nice, German wood-carving set my brother gifted me with a decade ago, but last summer I boxed them up and put them away because of a different project, and have since been unable to find them. Like I said, I'm dumb that way.

So instead of using nice German wood carving chisels, I was left to cut in the texture of the water with the Dremel. Time consuming? Oh, yes.

After that, I torched the sign to get that textured Witco look. This is always fun, and makes pretty pictures. I then scrubbed it down with a wire brush to remove all the carbonized (ie burnt) wood. Guess what? That removed most of the texture to the water I'd spent all that time adding. sigh

Next up, a coat of Minwax Special Walnut for the "framing" section. I thought I could get away with just the Special Walnut, but I ended up adding a topcoat of Dark Walnut just because it looks so much nicer, and give so much more visual depth. Once that dried, I attacked the rest of the sign with paint. For the most part, I used what I already had on hand--the blue with the glitter in it that I used on the ceiling, the green and black for my directional sign. I ended up spending $4 for some cheap, exterior acrylic in yellow and red for the hibiscus, because I had no yellow or red. When am I going to learn with this hibiscus design? Apparently never. Super-detailed and a huge time sink, but I continue adding it to every wood carving project I come up with.

I drilled pilot holes 4.5" from either end of the sign then added eyehooks. This is how the sign will be hung (duh). I did the same for matching companion hooks in the ceiling beam, which kinda goes without saying, but I say it anyway because, as The Wife says, I'm anal like that.

As if this update wasn't exciting enough, this is the application of water-based spar urethane! I know I've deprived you of witnessing this joy on previous updates, but no more! A couple of technical points: I have both water- and oil-based spar urethane on hand, but went with the water type because it dries clear and I didn't want the paint colors muddled. The oil type dries with a kind of sepia tone to it, which looks great on natural-looking stained wood, but I didn't trust it with the colored paint. Also, urethanes are notorious for capturing bubbles when applied, and then drying that way, marring the finish. I have to confess I've not seen water-bases spar urethane do that. I goes on easy, and any bubbles vanish before it dries. Very forgiving.

And here is the finished sign, in situ. I'm happy with it, although looking back, there are all manner of things I'd have done differently. Also, it's double-sided, so it's visible from either direction. Double the workload, double the fun, right?

As always, there are more photos and detailed step-by-step descriptions on my blog for those who are gluttons for punishment.

[ Edited by: Prikli Pear 2018-01-25 13:04 ]