Redwood Sign problems

[butch]

I need some help with this redwood sign. I made a redwood board sign with a letter and address. I used epoxy to attach the letter and the edge strips to the board. Where the epoxy came in contact, or soaked into the redwood (such as around the letter) it caused the wood to turn black. My intent was to leave the redwood natural, so it would turn sliver/gray with the gold letters, but now it is blotchy and I don't think the color will even out.
Could someone give me some ideas on how to fix this?

5536

Thanks Butch

[joe]

Butch,

To even out the darkened area's you could coat the whole panel with a thinned down epoxy coat. By reducing the epoxy with lacquer thinner (1/3) it will flow out nicely but darken the whole panel.

Over time, this will slowly weather to a gray, since epoxy has little UV resistance.

Another more creative technique would be to scrumble in color around the border and corners. For this you can use the thinned epoxy with a little lettering enamel. This can be applied with a brush, closely followed up with a rag to soften the edges. Still, you will need to give the complete panel a light wash of epoxy.

All in all you may end up with an even more interesting panel. Challenges like this will make you a better craftsman.

In the future, when working with natural wood that is to be glued, it's advisable to give the whole panel a light, thin coat of clear shellac.
This wil eleminate the color change.

[rookie432]

Scrumble? I keep checking my letterhead fabricators manual and can't find the technique for scrumbling. You must have the newest manual

Or you must of learned that in Ireland.

Bill

[butch]

Thanks Joe
I will give that a try. I was trying to find some chemical or process to speed the color change, but didn't expect epoxy to be the process.
Thanks
Butch

[joe]

Bill,

Your correct. It's an Irish term. There is also the technique known as a Mooshing. Scrumbeking is done with the side of the brush at a low angel, while mooshing is more of vertical jabbing technique. As in: Moosh that paint down in the grain. You'd never get the job done correctly by mearly scrumbing.

I'm sure you get the idea.

J.
www.normansignco.com (http://www.normansignco.com)

[butch]

Here is my first sign. Not fancy, but this is the look they wanted - sits back in some pine trees, so needed to look aged.
I was able to clean up the black with some scrapping, then to get the gray color, I used the WEST Hardener and some water. That turned the redwood gray.
Just wanted to thank everyone for their help, in here and in Wiki. I was looking for a coverup stain before someone suggested trying to thin the epoxy to get the color.
Thanks for the help -
Butch
5537

[joewino]

Great looking sign. Congratulations.

And thanks to Joe for the vocabulary lesson. You just never know what you are going to pick up here on this forum.

[butch]

It didn't work.
I tried to turn the redwood gray, by using some thinned epoxy. It appeared to work, but I just went out to the sign and the gray has washed away. It is starting to gray naturally, but it looks almost new again.
Butch

[curtiss]

Be sure not to ever, ever, scrumble when you should be mooshing...... as this will make a complete scmess.

Curtis