Church signage project

Just before Christmas last year our Pastor showed me a quote for new signage at the church. It was for one logo and two 'Worship' signs over the main entrances to the sanctuary. When I saw what was quoted I volunteered to do the signage. They were going to do the signs in metal and the logo would be 48" and vinyl wrapped, also probably metal.

I told Bro Terry that I could do the signs but they would be in 1/2" Baltic Birch. His only request was that no grain show on the logo. I found rattle can enamel that matched close enough and used Hammer Tone finish on the letters so they'd look sort of like metal. To completely fill the grain on the logos I used Bondo on the face and spot putty on the edges. I cut two sets of logos at 60" tall (one for each hallway instead of just one hallway, as was quoted).

Sanding the Bondo back down to the BB face was no fun at all and neither was filling and sanding all the edges of the letters and logos. But it worked just fine. I sprayed primer and all the rattle can paint out in the back yard - there's no way I'm going to spray paint inside the shop. So that meant there were many days of high wind or rain or cold when I couldn't spray. Once all the paint had cured for 4-5 days I clear coated everything with Nitrocellulose sanding sealer and gloss lacquer. I allowed the top coat to orange peel slightly so it wouldn't show finger prints as easily.

To mount everything I used 1/4" aluminum rod cut to about 2" and Liquid Nails for adhesive. I sharpened aluminum mounting rod ends and we held the logo and letters in place and gently tapped to mark where to drill.

Because the logo doesn't have any true horizontal or vertical edges I wondered how I would line them up on the walls (one was sheetrock and one was brick). What I came up with was to cut a piece to fill the negative space and then attach boards on the back to hold the entire piece as a unit for marking, then take the backer boards off to mount each piece of the logo individually.

All in all I'd say everything came out nicely and our Pastor is pleased. Now he wants a world map to fill a 12' wall where we can mark the areas we support for missions. That ought to be fun!

Logo -

Cutting letters on the CNC -

Cutting logo on the CNC -

Edges filled with spot putty -

Letters ready for clear coat -

Logo with alignment guide -

Finished signage in one hallway -

Enjoy!
David