Color filling rough-sawn wood

[Tammy Arnott]

Hi all. I've come up with a dilemma and I thought maybe someone on here had figured it out already. I'm trying to color fill rough-sawn plywood for a rustic wedding album, but I'm having a heck of a time trying to figure out how to use something to seal the engraved areas without affecting the rustic nature of the wood. (I'll be using a vinegar/steel wool solution to age it prior to engraving, and don't want my sealer to affect color or texture.)

I searched the threads and found a lot of unique ways to seal sanded wood for filling, but I haven't found anything on this. Any thoughts? I ordered some masking, but am guessing it won't stick.

Thanks in advance! (The blue area is a cut out to show colored cardstock sewn in to the first page of the book, and the white is what I'm hoping to figure out how to fill.)

Tammy
294042

[Bruce Volden]

Tammy,
Might be worth a try, once you have board ready prior to engraving.
1) spray a seal coat over entire board (flat, satin, shiny lacquer or other finish)
2) let dry thoroughly
3) then mask area to be lasered
4) hope for zero bleed through!

Bruce

[Ross Moshinsky]

I have no experience with this product but I think this is probably your best bet: http://www.laserbits.com/laser-supplies/liquamask.html

Remember to seal the engraved wood BEFORE painting it.

[David Somers]

Tammy,

It is hard to tell from the photo how rough that surface is?

As Bruce mentioned. The problem you will face is the color fill bleeding into the surrounding rough wood. Gonna be really hard to deal with that I think.

Since this is a one off product, you could handpaint the color fill. Then you are not concerned about having to seal the rough sawn wood.

Or, make a resist of the lettering where the resist is a positive of the letters. Engrave your lettering, apply your fill and be somewhat careful applying it, but not overly concerned with spill over. apply the resist to the letters when the fill is dry. And lightly sandblast or if you prefer, light wire brush the wood surface to clean off any spill over and accentuate the grain of the wood. You would not have a rough sawn effect though, you would have a deep grain effect. That might be equally attractive though.

Beyond that I am not sure of a surface treatment you could apply to the rough sawn wood that would not look like a finish. Others may be able to help though!!!

Sounds like a lovely cover for the book! Show us a good photo when you are done!

Dave

[Tammy Arnott]

Thank you for the ideas. I hadn't thought about the deep grain effect vs. rough sawn. That might be an option. I also hadn't thought about flooding the entire board with a matte finish of some kind. The board will be very rough, so I am a little worried about a liquid mask adhering and getting stuck in the splintery parts of the board. I'll play with some options this weekend and let you guys know if I find anything that works.

Tammy

[John Bion]

Or, make a resist of the lettering where the resist is a positive of the letters. Engrave your lettering, apply your fill and be somewhat careful applying it, but not overly concerned with spill over. apply the resist to the letters when the fill is dry. And lightly sandblast or if you prefer, light wire brush the wood surface to clean off any spill over and accentuate the grain of the wood. You would not have a rough sawn effect though, you would have a deep grain effect.
Dave
Thats a great idea to experiment with, thanks Dave:)
Kind Regards, John

[David Somers]

Hey John!! Good to hear from you! Haven't chatted with you in a while!!

Pop a photo on the thread if you do get to play with it and let us know how it works!!

Hope all is well with your summer up there in Yorkshire!!!

Dave

[Tammy Arnott]

Sorry for the super late reply. I ended up talking the client out of it and into something not quite so "experimental", so no pics to show!