Name plate for a door

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CarveOne
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Name plate for a door

Post by CarveOne »

I was asked to make this for a waiter at a local restaurant that knows about my CNC woodworking hobby. It is a gift for his father-in-law.
3-1/2" x 8" x 3/4" red oak scrap left over from guitar builds. Asked for it Thursday evening and delivered on Saturday. He is a very good waiter for the wife and I, so I sold it to him at my 100% off "good buddy discount".

CarveOne
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CarveOne
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PSutter
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Re: Name plate for a door

Post by PSutter »

Very nice work! Would you mind telling about how you did the finish? I like it.

CarveOne
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Re: Name plate for a door

Post by CarveOne »

It's very easy, but can be a bit messy with some projects.

1. After cleanup sanding, I spray three fairly heavy coats of MinWax clear satin polyurethane from spray cans and let each coat dry enough to handle it between coats. Allow to fully dry overnight in a room temperature part of your house where the smell isn't objectionable.

2. Using a 3/8" or smaller artist brush, coat the area to be colored with General Finishes Java Gel Stain. Let it dry about 15 minutes.

3. I tear some paper towels in half or in thirds depending on the size project I'm working on. These will be used to selectively remove some of the gel stain to make it look like it has an old rustic look, or blackened from a torch flame treatment. The paper towel material can be folded as needed, with either side being wet with a little oil based paint thinner on it to partially wipe off, or fully wipe off the gel stain. You can always selectively re-paint the gel stain where you removed too much of the gel stain unintentionally.

4. When it looks satisfactory to your wishes, let the gel stain dry, then spray a final coat of clear satin polyurethane over the gel stain. Two coats if you want more protection.

This project took around 45 minutes to dark stain because I had to paint the 3d modeled text by hand with a very small point artist brush. Practice using this method and you can get pretty good results with it. I use it a lot now, and the recent Aztec-Mayan theme guitar I posted here is one of my best applications for it to date. I've gotten a lot of "Oh WOW!" remarks for this door sign and the guitar when people see them first hand.

CarveOne
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WNC_Ed
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Re: Name plate for a door

Post by WNC_Ed »

Very nice!
I truly appreciate the “how to” on the finish technique.
Must be a great waiter.
Congrats!
Maker of sawdust

CarveOne
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Re: Name plate for a door

Post by CarveOne »

WNC_Ed wrote:Very nice!
I truly appreciate the “how to” on the finish technique.
Must be a great waiter.
Congrats!
Thanks! Yes, he has been trained very well by his father, who is the head waiter. Both of them are my friends now.

People who have seen my gel stain work usually think I either laser cut it or char it with a torch flame. It's worth a try, first on V-carved text, then try it on a 3D model like this one to see what you can do with it.

CarveOne
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PSutter
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Re: Name plate for a door

Post by PSutter »

Thanks for the finishing info, I will be trying that out.

CarveOne
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Re: Name plate for a door

Post by CarveOne »

Don't soak the folded paper towel with paint thinner, or it will wet the gel stain too much and it runs like coffee. For 3D models you want it slightly damp so that it picks up the gel stain. Once the bulk of the gel stain is removed, wipe more lightly with clean dampened paper towel until you get the effect you are happy with. If you remove too much, touch up with gel stain and try again. If the gel stain on the top surface of the material is not coming clean, then make a clean paper towel wetter and it usually will clean it off. Some coarse end grain in white or red oak is difficult to get the gel stain totally out of it.

V-carved text is usually easy. Don't press down into the text and you can get sharp edge transitions by lightly wiping across the text.

Practice makes perfect.

CarveOne
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Creation in Wood
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Re: Name plate for a door

Post by Creation in Wood »

Thanks for sharing
Thank You
Doug

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