On Tue, 13 Jun 2006 21:03:04 -0400, "Bill Kearney"
wrote:

Yeah, but what about that clear plastic? It's very likely going to craze,
cloud up or otherwise show signs of considerable aging as well.

Probably true. My solution is to put lots of coats of varnish over
the graphics, sanding lightly between coats. Gradually the surface
begins to level out to the point where you can varnish and sand
without worrying about what is underneath.

If you're going to varnish over the vinyl, why bother putting it on a
plastic sheet? Why not just stick the vinyl letters to the wood and
varnish the whole thing?


Probably true. My solution is to put lots of coats of varnish over
the graphics, sanding lightly between coats. Gradually the surface
begins to level out to the point where you can varnish and sand
without worrying about what is underneath.

On 14 Jun 2006 02:07:13 -0700, "Keith"
wrote:

If you're going to varnish over the vinyl, why bother putting it on a
plastic sheet? Why not just stick the vinyl letters to the wood and
varnish the whole thing?

That was my point. Chuck is the one experimenting with the plastic
sheeting, not me. It will be interesting to see how it works out, may
turn out to be OK in the Pacific North Wet but doubt that it would
hold up here in the sunny south.

Keith wrote:
If you're going to varnish over the vinyl, why bother putting it on a
plastic sheet? Why not just stick the vinyl letters to the wood and
varnish the whole thing?


Varnishing over the vinyl tints the lettering, and the edges of the
letters want to "lift" after the first coat. To build up the varnish,
it is important to sand between coats and that brings you back around
full circle to the difficulty of sanding around lettering. For obvious
reasons, you would not want to sand the vinyl lettering.

On 14 Jun 2006 09:20:50 -0700, "
wrote:

To build up the varnish,
it is important to sand between coats and that brings you back around
full circle to the difficulty of sanding around lettering.

I agree that sanding the first 3 or 4 coats is a pain but the more you
build it up, the easier it becomes.