Fireman's LODD Plaque

[bryan]

Having a couple Fire Chiefs in the family and several other friends that work in Fire Department or Police Department I've done a lot of the standard Maltese Cross Relief that obtained from Vector 3D.

One of the departments reached out to me to help them update the Officer Down wall at Headquarters with something newer and more inline of remembering the Fireman that have loss their life in the line of duty.

Well after a length period of going back and forth with the clients I've got about 2 more coats of finish and the 30" by 30" by 2" black walnut plaque will be complete and ready to hand over to the client.

The design was based on the standard Maltese Cross but the center piece was removed and a 3D scan of the departments Shield was inserted.

Added a couple images, one is the project after machining and the other is after detailing the letters and a couple coats of finish, still have a couple more sanding between coats before I'm happy with the finished project.

[myxpykalix]

I'm generally not a fan of paint with stain but you made it look good with this. Good job

[Tom Bachman]

Very nice.

[bryan]

Thanks Jack actually no stain just gloss lacquer on black walnut, don't like to use stains unless the client twist my arm.

[cowboy1296]

Great job. I know how to stain letters to keep them from bleeding, but how did you do the paint?

[bryan]

Did two coats of lacquer on the plaque.
After it dried overnight took a small art brush and painted all the letters with a water based latex.
Wiped off any overage with a soft cotten towel. Let dry 4 hours and then sanded the letters with 220 grit detail sander
Blowing away dust and wiping surface to make sure all overage was removed. Once happy continued application of additional lacquer coats.
By starting with lacquer it sealed the wood surface from soaking up any overage. The letters were rough enough that the paint bonded great. The real trick is not to over do it with the first couple of lacquer coats on the paint, have had a couple of project where it looked liked fish scales due to the reaction between paint and the lacquer.

Bryan

[cowboy1296]

thanks, that answered a question that recently came up