Project of the Day : Giant Partagas Sign

[shilala]

I'm just winding up my most recent Partagas sign.
It's huge. Around 42" X 21" X 1 3/4".
It's made out of solid cherry, supported in back so it won't cup, plus I stained and polyurethaned the back so it's super pretty.
I'm weird about that stuff. I know nobody will ever see the back of things. They won't see the underside. They won't even care. But I do. And the guy who hangs this on his wall, he will. It's that little extra that makes something go from craft to craftsmanship.

She's got so many coats of latex enamel on it that I couldn't even place a number on it. It's part of the painting process. I paint everything one color, then repaint it. Then if there's touch-up, I repaint it again.
Then I start painting the letters and border. I make an unholy mess. As I fix the messses, I put another coat and another coat on.
What that does is provide an uneven, built up surface that gives it some character. Sort of like it's been repainted a gazillion times over the last 100 years or so.

At the very end, I throw five or six coats of polyurethane on it. In the end, it'll be satin, but on the way up I use gloss. High gloss poly is ideal for building, satin is not. Satin tends to migrate and pool while gloss lays out. It goes to the surface tension of the two blends, and it's a cool trick that's really helped me to make nice poly finishes.
The poly over the latex will hold down the latex stickies. Latex is sometimes goofy and it likes to dry, get sticky, dry, get sticky, and never stop the cycle. The poly stops that nonsense and keeps the dust from sticking to the sign.

I've made 5 of these signs in the past, all smaller ones. The whole point was to work up to this one. I tried lots of different techniques on the way to this sign to get what I wanted, and I'm very pleased. I'm excited about reproducing some other old signs in the future, and maybe some not-so-old stuff. All in the cc realm, because I love that classic art.

Anyways, a couple pics as I finish out.
Here are a couple from the spinning finish table. That's my new and awesome lazy susan thing I built for painting and finishing. It helps me spin things as I work and really saves a lot of struggling while I paint.
I'll post pics of the back and a pic that relays the size after the poly dries.

[Bax]

That's beautiful! What kind of machine do you have?

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Bax

That's beautiful! What kind of machine do you have?

My machine is a Shopbot PRStandardBT48, Tim.
I used it to rough the letters out and work the border, then spent forever chiseling the letters to where I liked them.
I finally bought some really nice chisels and a good rubber mallet, so I think I'm a world-class wood carver now.
Sanding around all those letters and up the sides is sheer hell. If the sign weren't so big I could adjust my cut files to a much smaller stepover and it'd leave a cleaner finish. It is what it is, though.
Sometimes I think it'd be easier to just do the whole thing without using the cnc machine at all.

[icehog3]

Looks freakin' awesome, Scott!

You're a big Partagas fan, huh?

[shilala]

Here's junior modeling the sign for me. He's 6' tall so you can get an idea of the size of the sign.


Here's a wide shot of the back so you can see the supports and stain. The cherry is gorgeous.


Here's what the back looks like close up.
I'm glad we messed around and took it outside for pics, I need to put another coat or two of poly on the back. There's some touchups I need to do from cleaning paint off the back. My daughter Rebekah got a bit carried away when she put a couple coats on the border, and I was happy to clean it up. She put a whole day of painting in and that's a day I didn't have to put in.
If I had to guess, I bet this sign has well over 40 hours of hand painting in it. That's what it takes to get it right and get the thickness and depth that I like. Plus it'll last forever.

[AdamJoshua]

I don't care if was the machine or not, you are insanely talented my friend. Now I just have to think of a project for you, something like a Monte sign that's 8' by 12' and has 8 evenly spaced cribbage boards built into it. ONE DOWAH!!!

Seriously gorgeous.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by AdamJoshua

I don't care if was the machine or not, you are insanely talented my friend. Now I just have to think of a project for you, something like a Monte sign that's 8' by 12' and has 8 evenly spaced cribbage boards built into it. ONE DOWAH!!!

Seriously gorgeous.

Thanks, Adam!!!
To add more to what I said, the cnc machine can only do so much. Not that I'm trying to grab all the glory, it's just a fact.
It's all the hours of hand work that make stuff really nice. It doesn't just squirt out a sign and send it down the road, not remotely.
First I have to create the design. Then I have to create the toolpaths, or the language that tells the cnc machine what I want it to do. That's gobs of math, and my math weasel isn't all that swift, as we've discussed.
If that all works out, then it's sanding. And more sanding. And more sanding. Then chiseling and planing and more sanding. Then days of painting.
I could streamline the process by using foam (dibond) and one-shot with spray guns for painting. That'd cough up a sh1tty plastic commercial piece that I have no interest in making. Heck is, to make signs and stuff like that would cost nearly as much as the way I do things now, but very little human craftsmanship is in the finished product.
I got the cnc machine so I can hit a middle road. I can make a $2000 sign like this and sell it for around $1200. A commercial sign shop would sell a plastic counterpart for more than what I can.
My reasoning is to take enough work out of hand-made to make things affordable for guys like you and me, yet still turn out an heirloom piece that I can be proud of and you can be proud to own.
That goes for all the stuff I make. Eventually I want to crank out incredibly ornate humidors that can't even be had. Sort of like the super expensive commemorative editions that Habanos cranks out, but in my style. And I should be able to make them at a price that's within some sort of reason. I think that'd be super cool.

In the end, I more or less consider all the stuff handmade. The cnc is just a better tool for making things that used to be really, really hard and take forever. I can cut a piece to perfectly fit an area in less than half the time I used to, but I still have to use the tool. It's kind of like a way better hammer, ya know?

I should probably say that I've been working on this sign since January.
That's how long it takes to make enough time and patience to get one of these done. That's crazy.

[Blueface]

Freaking awesome!!!

[cjhalbrooks]

That is totally wicked

[AdamJoshua]

Originally Posted by shilala

Thanks, Adam!!!


In the end, I more or less consider all the stuff handmade. The cnc is just a better tool for making things that used to be really, really hard and take forever. I can cut a piece to perfectly fit an area in less than half the time I used to, but I still have to use the tool. It's kind of like a way better hammer, ya know?

Well to me carpenters use saws, hammers, chisels, etc., and it is still handmade, unless you are pushing a button and coming back a day later to find a finished sign it's still handmade, only the tools change.

[stearns]

you're a wood monster scott

[sofaman]

That came out perfect my man

[shade]

Originally Posted by shilala

It's made out of solid cherry, supported in back so it won't cup, plus I stained and polyurethaned the back so it's super pretty.
I'm weird about that stuff. I know nobody will ever see the back of things. They won't see the underside. They won't even care. But I do. And the guy who hangs this on his wall, he will. It's that little extra that makes something go from craft to craftsmanship.

I took a quick look at the pics before I read this, and wondered about the finish on the back of the sign. Exquisite work, Scott. You should be proud. Absolutely beautiful.

[maninblack]

That is a gorgeous work of art that would look great in a cigar shop or a man cave. Great job Scott!

[NeuRon]

scott, thats so beautiful.. ive longed for one of those signs forever.. and missed the boat last time they were sold.. if you ever have one for sale again, LMK!

[Ncpsycho]

Beautiful

[MrClean]

Scott, that looks amazing! Nice work my friend.

[kelmac07]

Turned out beautiful Scott.

[Mr.Maduro]

Beautiful work Scott. Amazing. How long did it take?

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Mr.Maduro

Beautiful work Scott. Amazing. How long did it take?

I've been on it since January, Patrick.
There's all kinds of explanation on the time necessary for each part of the process up in the OP. Some of my drivel is even borderline educational, and in some instances, possibly entertaining.
Don't be afraid to go ahead and read it again, you might catch some more stuff you missed!!!