# Redoing numbers on old bleachers



## Nels (Dec 10, 2013)

I have a project that is planning 2,200 linear feet of 2×4's yellow pine. They are bleacher seats, 3 -2×4's wide. This is an old school and the seats have numbers on them. There is a number every 18". The architect wants to keep the "look". The numbers are 1-9/16" tall. My thoughts run to: hand doing with a Dremell, getting a CNC guy to make templates for a router, and having stamps made.
Any knowledge of doing any of these or other ideas?


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## John Smith_inFL (Dec 15, 2017)

a 45 or 60* V-Bit in a hand-held trim router vs the dremel tool will be neater and quicker.
Yellow Pine has some pretty serious hard grain structure and will make
straight engraved lines a challenge - but very doable free-hand (with a little practice).
hand draw the numbers with a black Sharpie pen first, then just rout the lines.
a template stencil could be used for the drawing part.


















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## JCamp (Nov 22, 2016)

I don't have an opinion on the lettering but if you plane a 2x down your are going from a factory 1.5 inch board down at least another 1/16 or more…. are you sure it will be as structurally sound as before?


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## gargey (Apr 11, 2016)

Yeah they might only support a 2,400 lbs student in each seat compared to 2,500 lbs previously.


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

> I don t have an opinion on the lettering but if you plane a 2x down your are going from a factory 1.5 inch board down at least another 1/16 or more…. are you sure it will be as structurally sound as before?
> 
> - JCamp


Given that planing 1/16" from a 1-1/2" board reduces its thickness by just over 4%, that is not going to be significant factor. Also, depending on the age of the boards, they might be thicker than 1-1/2".


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

> I have a project that is planning 2,200 linear feet of 2×4 s yellow pine. They are bleacher seats, 3 -2×4 s wide. This is an old school and the seats have numbers on them. There is a number every 18". The architect wants to keep the "look". The numbers are 1-9/16" tall. My thoughts run to: hand doing with a Dremell, getting a CNC guy to make templates for a router, and having stamps made.


2200 linear feet with numbers every 18 inches means you're re-doing almost 1500 numbers. Even if your post meant all three added up to 2200 feet, that's still almost 500 numbers. I can't imagine tackling that with a router, template or not. Do the numbers disappear when you plane them? If not, it's likely to be a bigger challenge since you'll have to match the current ones.

Personally, I'd look into branding irons. It looks like that might have been what was used originally. Once you get your rhythm down, it would probably go pretty quickly.



> Any knowledge of doing any of these or other ideas?
> 
> - Nels


This is LJ. Knowledge is optional.


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## woodbutcherbynight (Oct 21, 2011)

I agree with Rich, this was probably done originally with branding iron numbers. Never have seen this size but my Grandfather had a set about 1 1/2 he used to mark frames and such when building bridges. Where they cam from have no idea. I only asked what they were some 35 years ago and that was his answer.


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## John Smith_inFL (Dec 15, 2017)

how did reducing the thickness come into play ???
I see nothing in the original post about running the boards through a planer.

the way I read it is that the project is planning (anticipating) using that much lumber.
not running 2200 LF of lumber through a thickness planer.

my math isn't all that keen, but, if there were 500 numbers, that is not a big deal.
set up a jig on the workbench and once the assembly line is put in motion,
the project will go pretty quickly. probably do it all in 2 or 3 days. and since school is out,
there are hundreds of kids looking for some easy pocket change and this would be good
for the community to put a few of them to work and get them off their stupid phones.
jus my Dos Centavos

.

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## corelz125 (Sep 23, 2015)

I would look into steel number stamps it will go a lot faster.


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

> how did reducing the thickness come into play ???
> I see nothing in the original post about running the boards through a planer.
> 
> the way I read it is that the project is planning (anticipating) using that much lumber.
> ...


LOL John. On LJ, some folks run boards through the planner. Sometimes they use a scrapper on it afterwards.


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## tomsteve (Jan 23, 2015)

personally i think the key is
The architect wants to keep the "LOOK".

just wants it to LOOK like it used to.
burn em in


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## Fresch (Feb 21, 2013)

"Keep the look" it looks hand done by a one eyed drunk. Make some branding irons 0-9 (blacksmith), looks like an expensive option over new.


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