Project Information
So I play in a softball club in New Orleans that has been around since 1922. Every Sunday year round a group of guys get together at City Park to play. Teams are split up to be even each week and while score is kept the game is really played for the love of the game. Players currently range from 18 to well into the 70's (the oldest player is celebrating his 50th year with the club right now). We play for 3 hours and when you get to the end of one game you just start a new one.
Last year the city decided to redo our field (not sure why since we are the only ones who use it). After months of being away we came back to find that the sign proclaimg our club and our field had vanished during the renovation. I finally decided that it was time for someone to do something about it.
The sign is made from 3/4" birch ply which was spray painted. The edging was made from PT pine 2×4's that were cut down to a true 1 1/2" by 1 1/2". I did a 3/4" rabbet on the one edge and then a 45 deg chamfer on two of the other edges. The were finished with Minwax Jacobean finish. At first I thought it was a bit dark, but once I saw the completed project I was actually quite happy with it. The whole thing was finished in Minwax's oil based fast drying polyurethane-3 coats sanded to 320.
Plenty of things I wished had come out better. I thought that miters could have come out better. They seemed good when I cut them, but when it came time to the glueup it didn't look so hot. A few other things didn't line up quite as well as I would have hoped, but I was worried about having an unsteady hand when finishing with paint and stain in such close proximity, so all the pieces were finished before they were assembled.
I also wish I had done a little better with the painting of the letters, but what are you gonna do I'm a woodworker not a painter. My wife actually helped with the letters by using her Cricuit machine (think of a CNC router for paper) to make stencils. I then traced and painted, but am not so good at this (Damn my kindergarten teacher for not leaving me back).
Bottom line is despite the mess ups the sign will appear pretty perfect since it will hang from a backstop 12 ft in the air. I can only hope that it will last as long as the club will-haha.
Last year the city decided to redo our field (not sure why since we are the only ones who use it). After months of being away we came back to find that the sign proclaimg our club and our field had vanished during the renovation. I finally decided that it was time for someone to do something about it.
The sign is made from 3/4" birch ply which was spray painted. The edging was made from PT pine 2×4's that were cut down to a true 1 1/2" by 1 1/2". I did a 3/4" rabbet on the one edge and then a 45 deg chamfer on two of the other edges. The were finished with Minwax Jacobean finish. At first I thought it was a bit dark, but once I saw the completed project I was actually quite happy with it. The whole thing was finished in Minwax's oil based fast drying polyurethane-3 coats sanded to 320.
Plenty of things I wished had come out better. I thought that miters could have come out better. They seemed good when I cut them, but when it came time to the glueup it didn't look so hot. A few other things didn't line up quite as well as I would have hoped, but I was worried about having an unsteady hand when finishing with paint and stain in such close proximity, so all the pieces were finished before they were assembled.
I also wish I had done a little better with the painting of the letters, but what are you gonna do I'm a woodworker not a painter. My wife actually helped with the letters by using her Cricuit machine (think of a CNC router for paper) to make stencils. I then traced and painted, but am not so good at this (Damn my kindergarten teacher for not leaving me back).
Bottom line is despite the mess ups the sign will appear pretty perfect since it will hang from a backstop 12 ft in the air. I can only hope that it will last as long as the club will-haha.