This first photo is one of the first sandblasted signs that we did in this area about thirty years ago. I was working for another compmany then. I did the orginal design and all the blasting, construction, and painting. It is all clear heart redwood.
Over the years, someone ran over the sign and it was reinstalled on pipe, plus it was painted several times by whoever painted the apartments.
This afternoon Mike and I put the sign back on its posts after refurbishing it. Water had seeped into several joints and rotted the wood away, so we removed all the old soft redwood and packed the areas with Magic Sculpt, then took all the paint back down to wood, primed and repainted with Porter acrylics.
The sign is now ready for another thirty years.
Cost: $1,000. We also have some other signs in the complex that are being replaced (that we didn't do originally) When they are installed I will show some more "before and after" photos.
Posted by Neil D. Butler (Member # 661) on :
Looks better than ever Ray. Much better. The grain really pops with the dark background.
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
That goes to show good design is timeless.
My all time favorite sign of the ones I've ever built was done in 1980. Another sign of the same vintage that was second only to it in my mind looks so... 1980. The design just didn't hold up.
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
The 'new' white text looks routed, but the old black text doesn't- is that just because of the shadow in the depth?
I like it, and the orange/rusty leaf is a great eye-catcher compared with the old green one!
Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :
I wonder how much better we'd look if we got a fresh coat of paint.
Ladies?
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
You were pretty good thirty years ago Raymond. I believe you've gotten better with age.
-grampa dan
Posted by Pat Welter (Member # 785) on :
Love these before and afters. Ray, Mike, great job on the new look.
Posted by Raymond Chapman (Member # 361) on :
Ian - yes, the text is sandblasted (not routed - this was WAY before ShopBot) in both pictures.
Thanks for the comments.
Posted by Alicia B. Jennings (Member # 1272) on :
Thirty years aah? Did you hand cut the mask for the text? Great looking job back then and now.
Posted by Rene Giroux (Member # 4980) on :
Nice work Ray, nice improvement for a guy half way in his career path....
Posted by Raymond Chapman (Member # 361) on :
Alicia...sure it was hand cut. There was no other way to do it back then. Remember this was even before the Gerber IV.
That's right, Rene...another 30 or 40 years and I think I may have a handle on this stuff.
[ February 18, 2010, 10:53 AM: Message edited by: Raymond Chapman ]
Posted by Brian Oliver (Member # 2019) on :
Thirty years ?!!!?
Raymond, Raymond, Raymond. Surely you've heard of planned obsolescence?
Posted by Bill Lynch (Member # 3815) on :
Amazing how long a well made sign will last, really like the new colors...couldn't get them to spring for new posts?
[ February 18, 2010, 10:13 PM: Message edited by: Bill Lynch ]
Posted by Weston Pulley (Member # 10330) on :
![[Cool]](cool.gif)