Kevin Vernon
Member
- Messages
- 112
- Location
- 39.92*N x 86.01*W
This is a Birthday Present for a "Turning 10" li'l girl who is a Pirates of the Caribbean FREAK.
The base, or "Flag" portion is simply 1/4" ply, covered in black Felt.
The Skull & Crossbones, or "Jolly Roger" section is scrollsawed from 3/4" Purpleheart - and man, lemme tell ya, that stuff is HARD - DENSE - HEAVY.
Now, seeing as how Pirates were not particularly known for the prcision of their work, I wanted this thing to look a bit "rough" - so, I found a skull & crossbones design I liked, printed it sized to fit the 6" wide board I had acquired, glued it down & proceeded to cut the thing out with my scroll saw.
I used a 3/8" roundover bit to ease most of the edges, including the eye sockets, but left the "teeth" just as the squared edge of the board came - keeping with my "Rough" theme, I sanded it smooth - well sort of - with the 60 grit on my belt sander....and left it that way, sanding scratches showing along with the grain.
Following some finishing advice for PurpleHeart that I found here and on some of the other boards, I misted the rough-sanded wood lightly with ArmorAll, as a UV shield, and then gave it one heavy, sloppy, gloppy coat of urethane Spar Varnish - again, in keeping with my "Rough Look" theme, I deliberately just kind of slopped it on.
All in all, I really like how it looks - and I must admit the photos don't do it justice.
Pepsi Can included for scale reference:
And a closer shot of just the Skull:
Thanks for looking, gang - and thanks for the help.
-Kevin in Indy (She's gonna LOVE it!)
The base, or "Flag" portion is simply 1/4" ply, covered in black Felt.
The Skull & Crossbones, or "Jolly Roger" section is scrollsawed from 3/4" Purpleheart - and man, lemme tell ya, that stuff is HARD - DENSE - HEAVY.
Now, seeing as how Pirates were not particularly known for the prcision of their work, I wanted this thing to look a bit "rough" - so, I found a skull & crossbones design I liked, printed it sized to fit the 6" wide board I had acquired, glued it down & proceeded to cut the thing out with my scroll saw.
I used a 3/8" roundover bit to ease most of the edges, including the eye sockets, but left the "teeth" just as the squared edge of the board came - keeping with my "Rough" theme, I sanded it smooth - well sort of - with the 60 grit on my belt sander....and left it that way, sanding scratches showing along with the grain.
Following some finishing advice for PurpleHeart that I found here and on some of the other boards, I misted the rough-sanded wood lightly with ArmorAll, as a UV shield, and then gave it one heavy, sloppy, gloppy coat of urethane Spar Varnish - again, in keeping with my "Rough Look" theme, I deliberately just kind of slopped it on.
All in all, I really like how it looks - and I must admit the photos don't do it justice.
Pepsi Can included for scale reference:
And a closer shot of just the Skull:
Thanks for looking, gang - and thanks for the help.
-Kevin in Indy (She's gonna LOVE it!)
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