Shopsmith Forums

Jeezs, Ed,

When making a couple of signs, I just copied what I saw when watching a sign maker for forestry signs. His signs lasted a long time out in the woods.

He just dumped paint into the routed letters and let dry. If there was any spill he just sanded it off. He used highway reflective paint.

When I made signs, I simply painted/stained the entire surface, not worrying about the letters. After dry, put black paint into the letters and evened it out with my little finger. After dry, sprayed poly all over the signs. Done! no sweat!

I got some Marsh spray ink at Grainger. They likely will have to order it for you. Don't remember if I had to pay any shipping. You might check them. The spray ink does work well and can be sanded off the surface easily without having to clear coat beforehand.

I haven't placed my order for ink yet but I might just get a can to try. I have a test piece I've coated with Thompson's WaterSeal that I will be painting tomorrow weather permitting. The outcome of that test will let me know if there is any hope in that direction.

As time permits I will test a few solutions just for my own sake and understanding of the process. Since I ruined the design on my plank chair and had to sand it off I've been on a quest for a better way, or better materials.

Again thanks everyone for your contributions to the thread.

Ed

Don't want to bore you too much but the finals came down to the waterseal and the deft. Due to cost and the facts of my testing the deft is the winner. Here are the two finalist in their sand-off state.

First the runner up
and the winner.
I had used just one coat of the deft, I think a second coat might be worth the couple of minutes and extra material used.

The end results are not perfect but soooo much better then my first try with a spay of clear over and then the blue paint which bleed a LOT. Either of these two methods would be a solution.

Ed

On one sign I made with a solid color finish, I went a bit backwards. I painted in the letters first, then with a very short-nap, almost dry roller, I painted the flat surface.