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How to Make a Sandblasted Wood Sign

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How to make a Sandblasted Wood Sign

RECIPE FOR A WOOD SIGN

How to make a sandblasted wood sign should be well-explained in this article. Making a sandblasted wood sign, or any customized solid wood sign for that matter, begins with gluing up the raw boards stacked end on end with a high-grade exterior wood glue. My choice has always been West System brand marine epoxies. Clear, All-Heart, Vertical Grain (CAHVG) boards are the best grade for carving, routing or blasting, so after you purchase those, you want to rip them down on your table saw to a maximum of 7.25″ wide boards, the less the better to avoid the possibility of the finished sign panel bowing/cupping/warping out in the weather.

Glue and clamp the boards at about 80% tightness to avoid squeezing out the epoxy in the joints, using clamps on both sides of the panel spaced at 24 inches or so on center or less for even pressure. After curing overnight, remove the clamps and sand with a power sander starting with rough grit and ending with fine grit. An orbital sander works fine. After sanding and prior to sand-blasting, you have the choice to either apply a stencil (a thin rubber mask that can be cut with the desired design) directly on the bare wood, or prime and paint the panel and then affix the stencil. In the case of the sign shown for C.F. Richards Christian School in Staunton, Virginia, my subcontractor blasted the sign raw. The advantage of this method is that the stencil won’t pull the paint on the letters. The advantage of painting first is it’s a lot easier to paint the sign as you leave the stencil on the letters while staining the background, then you peel the stencil and the sign is done. However, that isn’t always the case, and more than half the time you have lots of touch ups or worst case is you end up having to re-sand, prime, and paint because the stencil pulls the finish.

In the case of the C.F Richards School example, I primed the background with a high-quality primer and then painted the lettering, logo, and borders with high-quality sign enamels. Since this was a one-sided sign with the back exposed, I also primed and painted the back. The aluminum posts and finials were black, so we decided to also paint the back black to match.

LASTING IMPRESSION-LOW COST PER MONTH

This sign, put into service in January, 2017 will last an undetermined time spanning many decades. The seemingly high cost per square foot is not as big a price as it seems when you calculate the cost per month (CPM) of the advertising. If the sign lasts 50 years with 3 maintenance periods and the monthly cost ends up being eleven dollars a month for very high-impact branding. Unfortunately, the C.F. Richards Christian School is not on a main thoroughfare, so the traffic count is mostly made up of parents, staff and neighbors and their friends living on the residential street where it’s located. Otherwise, if on a highly traveled street with high traffic count, the cost per impression would be extremely low at $11.00 a month. Compare that with TV, radio, magazine or newspaper advertising, and you’ll see that signage is one of the few marketing options that has great value. Kind of up there with blogging on the internet!!

Mark Hackley is owner/operator of Augusta Sign Company– A small business that designs, makes, installs and maintains custom wood signs for customers in Virginia. 540-943-9818  [email protected]

 

 

 

6 Entrance Signs That Have Stood the Test of Time

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Waynesboro Florist,
Downtown Retail Signage

www.augustasigncompany.com-virginia-sign-companies-6 Entrance Signs That Have Stood the Test of TimeBack in the mid-nineties I created a new sign for Webber Payne, owner of Waynesboro Florist. I used to fabricate all my own cedar and redwood sign panels. Now, being a smaller shop, I sometimes order panels already glued up and ready to route, carve, or sandblast. The three-foot high by five-foot tall wood sign we made for Webber’s shop has served him well over the years.
Last month, Webber contracted a painting company to repaint his downtown shop. At that point, he decided to hire me to restore his sign back to its earlier glamour while he was at it.
An important feature of well-made cedar and redwood signs is durability: the wood is naturally rot and insect resistant and it holds up for a lifetime of service when regularly maintained. Augusta Sign Company repainted the sign and custom ceiling bracket, carefully restoring the colorful entry sign for another twenty years of faithful service attracting customers into the store!

Waynesboro Mennonite,
Dimensional Wall Graphics

www.augustasigncompany.com-waynesboro-church-signs-virginiaSometimes sign projects don’t have to be glamorous. Such was the case when I provided a set of dimensional injection-molded plastic wall letters for a local church back in the early 1990’s. The letters are pretty standard– made from a standard mold in a standard plastic color with standard mounting hardware! Although they were basic letters they still had to be custom-fit to the wall in which they were mounted.
The manufacturer of the letters on this project is one of the premier letter suppliers in my industry. Chances are, if you order dimensional letters from a local shop, they will come from the same place. An important benefit of using dimensional letters from this supplier is that all their products have a lifetime warranty against breakage, cracking, fading, and so on. Therefore, if you use dimensional letters from Augusta Sign Company for your entrance signage, you are guaranteed to have a long-lasting product!

Hollister, Stuarts Draft:
Plant Entrance Signage

www.augustasigncompany.com-augusta-county-virginia-sign-companies-plant-entrance-signsWhen I owned and operated Tree Street Signs in Crimora I placed many plant entrance signs in service. Back in the 1990’s we made the signs for the DuPont Lycra facility which is no longer there; we made the sign for McKee that still stands; we made the signage at Rental Uniform Service, now Cintas, and we made the corporate entrance signs for Hollister in Stuarts Draft, among many others.
The Hollister signs were made in the mid-90’s and to my knowledge, have not been maintained since. The painted aluminum signs are still doing their job, but they are at the point where restoration should be considered.
The architectural metal signs were finished with acrylic enamel, the same paints used for auto finishes, and lettered with high performance 3M vinyl graphics, which have an expected 10-year outdoor lifetime. Needless to say, both the paint and vinyl graphics have outlasted expectations. Augusta Sign Company was born from a company that understood long-term sign construction so you can trust that your signs will be built to last!

McDow Funeral Home,
Architectural Monument Sign

www.augustasigncompany.com-virginia-monument-signs-superior-quality-signs-22980Buried deep beneath the McDow Funeral Home sign is a cache of extra brick that matches the sign. The buyer, now deceased, Tim McDow, requested that the brick be buried to ensure a good match if they ever decided to expand the sign later.
The sign, constructed in the early nineties, still looks great! I provided minimal maintanence in 2011 when the organization added a crematory and I updated the lettering and painted the stucco to refresh the sign background.
With training in architectural design, I offer a level of design service that other local competitors may not be capable to do. I enjoy working with customers and local masons to come up with long-lasting aesthetic sign designs.
It may sound weird, but I am confident that many of the sign structures I have made will outlast me here on this earth. Maybe that’s why we call them monument signs!

Waynesboro Free Methodist,
Custom Cedar Signage

www.augustasigncompany.com-va-staunton-waynesboro-virginia-wood-signs-for-churches-parks-resortsWood signs make great options for churches. They look nice and last a very long time when proper materials are utilized. The sign I built for the Waynesboro Free Methodist Church was one of the first redwood signs I put in place.
Not long after taking a week-long sign-building workshop in Vermont, I began building quality custom wood signs around Waynesboro and the Shenandoah Valley. And these signs still stand to this day, a living testament of their quality.
The long, monolithic, horizontal sign design was something I patterned to the looks of signage I had begun to build for Wintergreen Resort in the early 1990’s. These types of sign designs are easy to light and look great in colorful landscaping beds.
This sign has been well-maintained by church members. The location of this particular sign at a busy intersection has gotten loads of attention over the past 25 years and I hope it has helped attract new members and visitors to the church!

Gypsy Hill Park,
Sandblasted Park Signs

www.augustasigncompany.com-staunton-sign-companies-shops-6 Entrance Signs That Have Stood the Test of TimeUnique sign shapes and typefaces add eye-appeal to signs. Back in the early 1990’s I had the opportunity to help design the signage for Gypsy Hill Park, and later helped with Montgomery Hall Park which used a similar design theme.
Steve DeVenny, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, hired me to make the signs originally. A few years ago, Steve hired me again to maintain and update the signs. The City changed logos so we came up with a way to add the new logo to existing signs by fabricating painted metal ovals that covered the old dimensional lettering while providing a background for the new brand.
After twenty years, the old signs were battered and mildewed, but after restoration they were as good as new. I treated the surfaces with bleach before repainting and used a two-part epoxy to fill big defects. The project involved multiple signs and I took great care to make sure colors were consistent on all the signs throughout the two parks. I believe the signs are good for another twenty years. I wonder if Steve and I will be around the next time maintenance is required? Only time will tell.

Mark Hackley owns and operates Augusta Sign Company in Waynesboro,  was founder of Tree Street Signs of Crimora in the 1990’s, and served as an account representative for Holiday Signs of Chester. He began his sign career as a civil servant in the Department of Defense, learning the trade at the National Naval Medical Center and Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.

Wood Sign Restoration

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Reviving the Color

Wood sign restoration is what I love to do! I made Webber Payne’s sandblasted wood sign in the mid-1990’s, and he recently contacted me to restore thewww.augustasigncompany.com-sandblasted-wood-signs-signage-22980 file2 file1 file3 file4sign back to its original brightness that grabbed attention of shoppers in downtown Waynesboro, Virginia.

The process of restoring redwood and cedar signs is not difficult, it just requires multiple steps and knowledge about what materials work best and last the longest. First, me and my helper Marshall Carpenter took the sign down and transported it to my sign shop in Waynesboro. Next, I ordered the colors needed, which is getting harder all the time as hand-painted signs are becoming a lost art along with neon as digital sign techniques and LED technology take over the industry. While waiting for the paint to arrive I steel brshed and sanded the background, filling any major gaps with painters putty. Once the materials came in I mixed up a custom color purple stain to match the existing background color and coated out the entire sign. (I choose not to reveal my background stain recipe that I developed in the 1990’s…kind of like the Kentucky fried Chicken recipe, or McDonald’s Big Mac secret sauce.)

Next I primed the letters white and painted all the flat areas to complete the sign. I hung the sign and touched up any edges that needed it. (The photo of the sign hanging here in this feature was taken before final touch-ups, but it’s hard to see any issues from the distance in the picture.)

 

Mark Hackley owns and operates Augusta Sign Company, Waynesboro, VA  540-943-9818

 

 

Changing Letters on Entrance Signs

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www.augustasigncompany.com-waynesboro-va-fishersville-dimensional-signsChanging Letters on Entrance Signs

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Changing letters on entrance signs is a typical request at my sign shop in Waynesboro, Virginia, Augusta Sign Company. This particular week, I had a long-term care customer contact me to change the tag line letters on their sign from Senior Living Center to Assisted Living.

The existing letters were injection molded plastic characters with straight back edges. It’s important to order matching letters from a sign company that understands the various letter options, so your letters match when changing part of the wording. There are rounded formed letters, then there are solid, flat-cut out letters made on CNC routers, and each has it’s own visual characteristics. Colors and sheen are also important to match, but in this case, it was easy: matte black, Helvetica font.  If you ordered the original lettering from a company that’s still in business, it makes the most sense to order any updates in the sign lettering from the same company. That way things should match, since most sign companies keep old project specifications for some time.

HOW MUCH DOES IT ALL COST?

How much does it cost to change lettering on existing signs? It depends on the size and type of lettering and the height off the ground. In this case, non-illuminated plastic letters stud-mounted to a low profile brick and concrete monument sign, the cost was under $1,000. Of course, illumination, size and quantity of letters, logos, etc., would add cost.

It was fairly simple to make the changeout in this case: first, I used a stiff putty knife to remove the old letters; next I used a paper pattern with stud holes marked to drill the holes for mounting; next I cleaned and painted the concrete background with a flat, white, self-priming paint that matched the existing paint color; next I installed the dimensional letters using clear silicone, taping the letters that needed help until the silicone adhesive cured in less than 30 minutes.

Mark Hackley is the owner and operator of Augusta Sign Company, Waynesboro, VA (former founder of Tree Street Signs of Crimora)  540-943-9818

 

How to Test a Surface for Proper Graphic Adhesion

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Indoor Display Tech Talk…

How to Test a Surface for Proper Graphic Adhesion. Lettering on glass or acrylic is one thing but applying vinyl graphics to painted walls, especially flat, satin or eggshell finishes, is questionable. Semigloss and gloss finishes are a better bet for successful adhesion. When in doubt about quality sign or display products and application procedures, always ask a 3M rep. They are very knowledgeable and responsive when you have a question.

I am working on some interior wall designs for a Virginia client today who wants some nice acrylic graphics panels with stand offs that raise them over super graphics of some really cool color photographs that will be enlarged as backdrops under their mission statement and core beliefs that will be rendered on the overlaid panels. I would like to propose applying the base graphics of several neat wall displays directly to the painted wall surfaces at their organization’s walls of focus in addition to using PVC as an option, but since the walls have either a flat or satin sheen, I’m uncertain about the success of adhesion if applied direct.

BUT..I found out there’s a neat wall test kit available from most 3M distributors that helps test whether the sheen of the paint is glossy enough for the wall graphics to stick without any problems. You know, there’s a test for anything, and it’s always wise to do your homework and get it right the first time.

An edge I may have over some in my field is more than 35 years experience in the sign industry where I have learned about some things that others may not consider important!!

Here’s the video on just how I can test your walls to make sure they are graphic ready should you ever have a project in mind…