TRINITY UNITED CHURCH SIGN
RESTORATION PROJECT
Initially this started out as a replacement sign
project. Most likely the replacement sign would have been done on a flat
acrylic panel. Since I favor black with gold lettering for churches see Val Gagne church sign. images\VGchurch.jpg After see the original sign
I began thinking about a replacement and the more I thought about it the more
the thought of getting rid of this sign bothered me. The sign just seemed to
suit the church with its suggestion of a forgone era. Realizing that someone
had put a lot of time and talent into making this sign I started wondering if
there was a way that this sign could be preserved. Looking at the sign I saw
that the inclusion of a weather enclosed name box while necessary took away
from the overall appearance of the sign; especially since the acrylic plastic
had begun to turn yellow from age. Moreover the weatherproof box seemed too
modern for the type of sign this was. As I often do I let these thoughts
percolate for a while. Then seeing one of my guitars, a black electric solid
body Yamaha and the beauty of the lacquer finish I envisioned trying to apply a
similar finish to this sign; except the finish would have to standup to the
outdoors. Having had a somewhat limited experience with boat repair and
refinishing I struck upon the idea of using two part epoxies and urethane
products to repair and refinish the sign. Having used a particular marine
refinishing and boatbuilding supplier in
Upon retrieving the sign and
bringing it to my shop I realized the sign, due to the fact it had lost all of
its exterior varnish had absorbed a lot of water. One might even say it 
was waterlogged. Having been made originally from pine
it felt more like it was made from green hardwood as it was so heavy. From May
to September 2006 this sign sat in a dry corner of my shop drying out. To
attempt to repair and then seal the sign with laminating epoxy too early would
have resulted in the sign rotting from the inside out. Also I do not think that
the epoxy would have bonded securely to the surface of the sign if the sign had
retained its moisture content.
From the pictures can be seen missing
pieces of wood that
had rotted and fallen away.
Here is a picture of the sign
after initial sanding. The sign
Although well put together
with tendons had to be glued back
together in several places. A
two part epoxy with a 24 hr. cure
time was used for this
purpose.
Here I am using waxed paper
to try to speed up the cure time of the epoxy. Although it says 24 hr. epoxy by
no means will you be able to sand the surface in 24 hr. The surface 
remains sticky even a week after drying. The wax paper
speeds this up because the wax traps the heat being chemically formed when
epoxy A (the hardner) is reacting with epoxy B. The other reason I did this was
to be able to run a squeegee along the surface of the repair and not stick
thereby obtaining a smoother finish. The problem with this is that when
subsequent layers of epoxy are added to build up the repair they will not stick
because of the wax. Knowing this now I would use a mylar release paper for smoothing
and stay away from waxed paper. I must have mixed and applied epoxy more than
ten different times until I was satisfied with the repair. Again though with my
20/20 hindsight I could have made the job easier by using an epoxy fairing
compound or by adding micro-spheres to the epoxy resin (this is what fairing
compound is made from) By doing it this way the deep dents could have been
filled in less applications and faring compound is sandable. Epoxy as anyone
who has ever tried is very difficult to sand. Incidentally with polyester
resins (fiberglass resin) talc is often added to thicken the resin. Talc being
soft makes the resin easier to sand. This is why Gel coat is so easily
scratched and chips. Really it is polyester resin, talc and pigments. Getting
back to the subject of epoxy, it
works much better then polyester resin for its bonding capabilities to
wood, when using faring compound it is best to try to avoid large fill areas
especially if the finished project (say for example a kayak) is to have a
natural, see through finish.
Picture showing 2 part 24 hr.
epoxy A and epoxy B.
Approximately 4 containers of
epoxy were used.
Picture showing back of sign after spraying front as I
had
not taken a picture of the
two part epoxy primer. Two coats
per side were brushed and
rolled on. Then the front received
heavy sanding. Minimal
sanding was done to the back after the
primer was applied. One of
the difficulties in doing this type of sign is that it is three dimensional.
Instead of just purchasing a flat
substrate and applying the
finish and then the lettering this sign
had to be repaired then the
substrate finished on both sides before
the lettering could be
applied
Side by side photos of the
sign face before applying lettering. Even a good camera (Nikon D70) cannot
capture the mirror like qualities of this sign. If one looks deep into the sign
they can see the imperfections in the wood. If this sign was being made from
scratch I would use laminate several layers of good one side plywood then sand
the epoxy primer with 240 – 280 grit abrasives to obtain an ultra smooth
surface before spraying the paint. There are three coats of 2 part marine
quality urethane paint on the face of this sign.
This is a picture of the
letters after they have been cut out
and weeded. The material is a
gold polyester metallic vinyl.
Here the letters have been
masked with transfer tape and
are ready for layout.
Here
is the finished sign. Although the front is finished it will need to be
completely masked to spray the back. The
Front
was done first to make sure that adequate coats of paint could be applied as I
was concerned about running out of paint and the ensuing turnaround time in
bringing in additional quantities. Once the urethane paint on the back is cured
then stainless steel brackets will be fastened to the back to ready the sign
for mounting to 4 x 4 posts.
Even when the sign was finished it was necessary to
mask the front to protect it so that the back could be sprayed. It would have
been have been better to spray the back first and then sand any overspray from
the front then spray the front. Not knowing if the quantity of paint would be
adequate to provide the high gloss finish on the front that was desired I
choose to paint the front first. If there had been a local supplier for the
paint product I would have risked painting the back first.