Masking Material Suggestions

[ryan_slaback]

I am going to be engraving some V-cut Desk Plaques for my school district. I would like to apply a mask before I carve them and then paint the letters with a brown or black before finishing. I tried masking tape and that tore too much. What do you guys recommend for a material that is inexpensive, removes easy and cuts cleanly?

Also, do you zero the Z before applying the mask or is it not enough to worry about.

[wcsg]

1. Try 3M or avery paint mask, those work very good. Tape will not work

2. Not enought to worry about

[ryan_slaback]

Where would I go about finding 3M or avery paint mask?

[rick_woodward]

ryan You will find them at any sign supply store. They will sell vinyl and the paint mask.

[stickman]

I use the All Star Adhesive paint mask that has been talked about on the forum. I use this when I have prepainted or prestained sign blanks. It works great, with minimal clean up.

[itoolfred]

Ryan,
I use both the Avery mask and plain old shelf paper from the grocery store. Both work great for me. If you go the shelf paper route, the only brand that works is the Kitrich clear and you only have about an hour work time before the glue on the shelf paper will not come off properly. If it is a painted surface I would use the Avery but if it is a laminate the shelf paper is cheap and if any sticky left behind you can easily wipe off with rubbing alcohol.
Fred

[ryan_slaback]

The plaques will be carved from solid oak. From what I have read in previous posts I will need to apply a coat of finish to the blank. Mask. Carve. Paint lettering. Remove mask. Finish.

Does that sound about right?

[zeykr]

That sounds about right Ryan. After you carve, spray a quick coat or two of shellac to keep the paint from bleeding under the mask. I usually just peal mask soon after paint loses it tackiness and have good results, but I think some let the paint harden more then sand lightly to break the edges.

[joe]

Ryan,

Ken is right. He Knows his stuff.

Here's the way we do it:

The surface coat is very important. The smoother it is the better. I learned from Dale Kerr, a little trick. Wax and polish the surface with any good paste wax prior to application of the mask.

After you've finished carving, take fine sandpaper, 600p to smooth down the edges of the mask. Microscopically the mask will have lots of little tears and uneven pieces. Gently burnish it down. Then a couple of coats of bulls eye shellacs form a spray can. This seals off possible bleeding. Remember in highschool biology, xylem & phloem tubes which transfer fluids. Shellac seals this off too. Most bleeding under the mask is due to poor surface preperation, and mask which isn't down well.

Your first coat of color should be applied without much dilution. The thinner it is the more likely is will bleed. Second coat as heavy as you want. Finally: Gently pull back your mask and see if it is pulling up a little of the letter color. If it is you can break the edges with a little more fine sandpaper.

Sorry this take so long.

Good routing
www.normansignco.com (http://www.normansignco.com)

[zeykr]

Only reason Ken knows anything is that he follows people like Joe around every chance he gets. You learn a lot by going to the camps where these folks are and by listening to what they have to say on this forum.

[itoolfred]

Ryan,
Another trick if you are using water based products (interior), One thing I do is switch paint types between the base and the carving. If you paint the base with a latex enamal, mask, v-carve, paint the carved area with an artist acrylic. Let the acrylic dry. The artist acrylic doesn't stick well to the latex and if there is some bleeding under the mask you can remove with a damp cloth very quickly.
Fred

[doglaw]

Yesterday, I had a rush job to do. Since I was out of Avery paint mask, I had to improvise. It turns out that I like using this new mask much better than the Avery. The nicest part is that it is much less expensive and it is readily available locally.

Very simple - I picked up a roll of clear transparent Con-Tact brand contact paper. Laid down 3 layers - ensuring that I remove bubbles from each layer before appling the next. Walla - it worked great. The edges were nice and clean - and very few areas where it lifted up by the bit.

Since my letters were white on a brown background - I did seal the edges of the mask with a coat of white primer before painting the background. I had absolutely 'NO' bleeding under the edges.

The attached picture shows how clean the mask edges were after routing. This morning I removed the mask and it came off cleanly. I could not be happier with this solution and I think you will enjoy it as well.

A couple of notes: We all know one layer of contact paper does not work. I jumped to 3 layers - which does work. It may be that 2 layers will work - I just didn't test it. Also, I used the clear transparency contact paper. I would assume that the other colors/flavors would work but have not tested them.
5535

[ryan_slaback]

Doug,
I also have taken to using shelf paper. I however have found that the duck brand works best for me but only in a colored version. The think stuff is too thin and gets picked up by the bit. I have found that a single coat of the tan works the best. Plus I can pick it up at Menards on my way home. Anything I can do to make carving bleachers less straining on my limited school budget is a good thing.

[doglaw]

Ryan:

I'm not familiar with the Duck brand. I agree with your comment on the material being too thin. That was the conclusion I came to and why I added multiple layers.

I tried single layer contact paper before and was not satisfied with the results. The edges became too torn and too frayed to be of any good. It is amazing the difference another layer or two of contact paper will make.