I just finished sanding off a red cedar sandblasted sign. Its a 2x12, and the grain on it is beautiful. The sign is for a city park. Can I use a wood stain on the background? I'd really love to preserve the natural beauty of the wood grain, rather than prime over it.
I was thinking of sealing all of it with a deck stain, and then just painting the raised letters and borders. Is this a path to failure?
I'm in sunny California (no frost, and not even all that much rain), and the sign is in my neighborhood park. If its just a matter of having to re-seal it in 4 years, I'm willing to do that.
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
Go fer it!
If it is in a park, eventually the sprinklers will beat the finish to death, no matter what you use. Our neighborhood park has one like that, and gets refinished about every 5 years.
Posted by ScooterX (Member # 2023) on :
Thanks Si, Anything I need to watch out for (paint vs sealer compatability)? Any preference for one type or brand of sealer over another?
Can I just paint the 1-Shot over the sealed wood?
(fortunately, there are no sprinklers in this park. It is all native plants, drought tolerant. the only thing to worry about are kids with knives and spraypaint. if it gets tagged, then i guess i'll have to paint it.)
Posted by Checkers (Member # 63) on :
Hiya Scooter, When we made sand blasted signs in house, we would finish them using SignLife wood sealer and tint with 1 Shot when needed. I don't know if it's still available though I don't do any wood finishing in-house any more, but we used to get it from the local sign supply.
Havin' fun,
Checkers
Posted by Dave Sherby (Member # 698) on :
SignLife is still available and it's good stuff. (except for the clear) Their Sunset brown is a wonderful color. I've only used it on redwood where it held up very very well, and you can paint One Shot on top of it with better results than any primer I've ever used.
Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
Scooter, Prime and paint the letters first, then do the staining and wipe the stain off the enameled letters and then finish coat them.
Posted by Michael R. Bendel (Member # 5847) on :
oh, if only I had this forum 16 years ago when I went through this!
I recommend a good exterior stain to accent the grain. Let it dry thoroughly as there are a lot of oils in it. We then used Signlife firststep to prime the letters. Then Paint with One Shot CAREFULLY. Scrape off "mistakes" with an exacto & re-stain the areas.
Good Luck Scooter.
Another good option for a "breathable" clear that protects the natural color of redwood is Cetol "3 step" clear (2 separate gallons, 1 gallon is the primer & the other is the next 2 coats, hence the "3 step")-is a breathable clear & works great for flat raised borders & letters.(I don't recommend using this on the sandblasted background) I have a sign coated in Cetol installed on the exterior wall of my garage. After 7 years it's just starting to show a need for a second coat.
Posted by Steve Vigeant (Member # 439) on :
Scooter, I've got a can of a redwood preservative that has a really livens up the grain. It goes on like water and puts a lot of life into the wood. It should work with cedar. Come over and get it if it's the look you want.
Posted by ScooterX (Member # 2023) on :
Thanks for the advice, guys! -- especially Rick, for the step-by-step. I would have stained first and tried to paint second. Glad to avoid that mistake.
how come i don't see more stained sandblasted signs?
Posted by Raymond Chapman (Member # 361) on :
Years ago we would use Olympic Semi-transparent stain on redwood. It would really accent the grain and add some color also. Unlike Rick, we would stain and then add the solid color to the lettering.
How come? You can't get nice redwood any more. As the supply became less and less it was necessary to paint everything to make it look even.
You guys in California won't touch any trees, so the price has gone out of sight and the quality has gone to the pits.
Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
Ray, The greed of the timber companies has awakened us to see that the trees would be extinct soon if they were left to manage their own affairs. The cut and run policies are horrid. The wood that took a thousand years to grow does not come back in a forty year old tree. What we have is junk.
As far as the painting first, controlling the color after a good oiling of the background never seemed to work as well. Faint first and avoid the bleeding into the grain. Also, a water based primer can be used and if preceded by a penetrating oil it can't.
The best wood we get now is from sinker logs. These are logs that got jammed into the bottom of river beds a hundred years ago and have been covered with mud and silt. They're pulled out and absolutely dry and clear old growth. Magnificent wood!
