sign for a friend

[lawrence]

Well, we (my wife, 2 boys and I) are off to San Diego this weekend for a week. The last time we were there we met up with a friend I have from another ww'ing forum and he showed us the sights as only a local can. We had a wonderful time and became fast friends.

I wanted to make him a little something this time around, and as he is, like me, a hand-tool fanatic- I made him a Stanley Tools sign.

The top lettering is based on the "Stanley Tools" logo found on bedrock planes made around the turn of the century. This logo was, quite simply, impossible to find anywhere in any decent size/quality, so I had to do a lot of work cleaning it up in Corel draw and then imported it as a DXF.

The material is MDF, primed with an oil-based primer and then painted with Oil and latex (milk) paints. The lettering is gold painted and then I applied gold leaf onto them and the corner designs. This was my first attempt at gold leafing and I really like the effect as it is a much deeper and 3D gold effect than paint alone.. To top it all off I put on a couple of coats of shellac to both protect it and age the effect a bit. The hanger is brass chain.

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u313/ldr_klr/Carvewright/Stanley%20tools/P10400991024x768-2.jpg
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u313/ldr_klr/Carvewright/Stanley%20tools/P10401001024x768-1.jpg
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u313/ldr_klr/Carvewright/Stanley%20tools/P10401021024x768-1.jpg



Thanks for looking- hopefully he likes it
Lawrence

[gregsolano]

Really nice the gold leafing really stands out.

[LittleRedWoodshop]

He is going to Love it ....

[RogerB]

Like the finish what type of wood.

[b.sumner47]

I think that he should really like the sign, more to it then just words., Capt Barry Semper Fi

[lawrence]

Like the finish what type of wood.

Old growth MDF... :)

Seriously though, just bog standard MDF... $27 for a 3/4 thick 4x8 foot sheet at any home center or Ace Hardware. If you use drywall mud on the edges and oil based primer you get a finish that is smooth as butter- and cheap as chips. Another plus is that it is flatter than anything else around and this alleviates a lot of problems associated with non-flat stock and the brass roller. It's so smooth that tape is a must though... and so is dust collection as the dust is very fine and bad for you.

Lawrence