Wall Art - Need Advice

[dadealeus]

Summary:

My wife asked me to make some wall art related to Texas. Specifically, she thought a topographical carving would look nice.

I was able to get the topographical data downloaded as a mesh and then imported into Aspire. Unfortunately, I never realized how insanely flat the earth actually is on a scale relative to the state of Texas. Through a series of actions, I was able to amplify the few "mountains" we have in Texas, but most of the coastal region was still very flat and boring.

I decided to do a quick search on Google for images of Texas that I could use to cut out the state from the raw topographical data I downloaded (the data was just a big, square section of the earth, so I needed a vector to cut out Texas - much like a cookie cutter cuts out a cookie from a sheet of dough.

I found a pretty neat version that someone did of part of the American flag over the southern half of the state, so I borrowed it and then modified it quite a bit to get something I was happy with.

This is the first time I've done a project like this, so I didn't want to use any pricey wood. I went to Home Depot, bought a single 2"x12"x8', cut it into 4 equal lengths, and then glued two of those together to make a roughly 22"x24"x1.5" stock to cut the art out of. I didn't have any wood glue since my last move (must have tossed the old bottle), so I used some CA glue.

Here's my problem:

The "test" piece took about 12 hours to cut and I'm actually REALLY happy with how it turned out - with the exception of two things:

1) The crappy yellow pine I cut it out of - I'd like a good stain or finish, but I understand the underlying yellow makes most stains appear orange.

2) The crappy yellow pine I cut it out of warping to the point of separating the CA glue on the right side of the piece.

I'd like to see if I can salvage the piece and finish it decently. If you have any experience with wood repair, I'd like your advice. Should I just put more CA glue in there, clamp it, and hope for the best? -or maybe wood glue (I'm picking some up tomorrow, but I'm worried it might leave a discolored mark there).

Additionally, if anyone has any experience with a decent stain or finish to use on yellow pine, I'm all ears!

Attachments:

[joeblow]

1.  Pine is very difficult to finish well as stain is absorbed in a blotchy, uneven manner.  Pine should absolutely be conditioned prior to staining with a sealer/conditioner readily available at the big box store.  I would also suggest a gel stain as it is the most forgiving of stains.  I think darker stains look better on pine in my opinion.

As an alternative, google pyro techniques for wood.  A simple burning with a torch and then finished with a spar is nice on pine.  The level of burn you apply combined with the slight yellowing of spar works quite well.  Practice on some scrap first. 

2.   I am surprised this even made it off your machine in one piece.  You really need to do some research on how to join wood.  So much involved here to ensure a piece that will withstand the test of time.  I'll do my best to give a quick run down.

* The more pieces joined together, the more stable your final piece will be.  An odd number of joined pieces is more stable than an even number.  All pieces should have their grain flipped.  For example....piece 1 end grain is concave up, piece 2 concave down, piece 3 concave up, etc.

For your specific piece I would have used 2x6's at the most and joined 5 together. 

* No wood off the shelf is fit for joining.  Those edges all need to be jointed/planed to ensure a perfectly smooth and straight edge to join with the next board.  Luck is on your side as you have a perfectly capable jointer right in front of you already.

* Absolutely use wood glue such as Titebond and apply 100% coverage to each edge and use a lot of clamps.  I probably would have used 10 clamps on that glue-up.  CA is a fantastic adhesive but not in this application.

Regarding your current finished piece...I would consider it a "hard edit" and tack it up on a wall in your workshop and start over.  If your really set on saving it, then get some Titebond and apply a liberal amount to the edge and use clamps to hold.  After that has set up, I would cut a few small strips of wood at a minimum 1/2" thick and glue them to the backside of your piece making sure they are glued perpendicular to your joined pieces.

By the way, I really like the look of pine in finished projects but of all the woods I work on a daily basis I still find pine to be one of the most difficult woods out there to get right.

[dadealeus]

Thanks for the reply! Great information here.

I'm new to working with wood aside from an end-grain cutting board I did last year. I typically use HDU foam, plywood, or aluminum for my projects. I actually did most of what you suggested with the only real exclusion being the glue and the number of planks.

I planed and jointed both pieces before the glue-up, but one of the boards must have come slightly loose on a pass, so a small portion of the glue edge was uneven. The CA actually held together without any issues - the "crack" I saw was actually the spacing where the glue contracted and left an opening on the surface. The space only seems to go about 1/4" in.

There is definitely some warping that could be addressed with additional boards being glued together instead of just the two, but I don't generally half-ass things - so aside from the knowledge of what the wood will do after the shape is milled (of which I'm ignorant), I usually over-engineer all of my projects.

I do like the idea of the burn, but it may be too close to an accurate depiction of the country at the moment.

I'll take a shot at the gel stains and will seal it beforehand.

I'll post an update later this week when the piece is finished and we'll see how it turns out. Worst-case scenario, I'll remake it out of black walnut and finish it the same was I did my cutting board.

Thanks, again, the tips and advice!

[traindriver]

That is an awesome piece! Personally, I think it would look cool with some blue and red epoxy in the flag, not quite up to the top. Where did you get the flag you put in it?

[dadealeus]

Oct 25, 2021 18:50:43 GMT -5 traindriver said:

That is an awesome piece! Personally, I think it would look cool with some blue and red epoxy in the flag, not quite up to the top. Where did you get the flag you put in it?

Thanks, man! I was thinking the exact same thing about the colored epoxy - but I'd have to mill the profile first, then pour the epoxy, then come back and detail in the topography - otherwise the epoxy wouldn't be level with the rest of the piece. Since I had already done the topographical cuts, I decided to just finish it with a clear-coat of epoxy. It turned out alright, but I definitely agree about the color and I think I'm going to take a shot at that next.

As for the flag, I just searched google images for "texas flag svg" and found something to start with, but I had to implement A LOT of modifications to get it how I wanted it.

I had to remove some items, enlarge some stars to prevent them from floating with nothing to hold onto the piece with, etc. After a bunch of boolean operations on the SVG, combined with the Texas border and a negative offset border, I was able to achieve what you see.

If I have time to re-do it with the red, white, and blue epoxy, I'll update this post.

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[dustypilot]

First: Cool Project!
Next time you want to try out terrain mapping, go here: touchterrain.geol.iastate.edu/?fbclid=IwAR2xDyDKY9z6PQ37cNmpyKlmMgMtK97gt46936wv5owFfxX7PVZ_2ov9Jao

Define your area and on the right side towards the bottom they have a "vertical exaggeration" and take it up 4x or 5x. Then import the model into Aspire, get the shape of your state from google and "cookie cutter out" the part you want to keep. Works a charm! I did it with the Big Island of Hawaii in plywood and then set up all my scout troop 50+ mile backpack trips: make the terrain map and then a line indicating the hike route. Made great gifts after the trip (Grand Canyon was challenging!)

As to keeping your work together, I'd be off to Tap Plastics for a 1/8" piece, cut the outline and CA glue it to the back. Then drown it in poly to keep the moisture movement minimal and it should hold together for sometime. Cool idea.

[dadealeus]

Oct 28, 2021 1:20:11 GMT -5 dustypilot said:

First: Cool Project!
Next time you want to try out terrain mapping, go here: touchterrain.geol.iastate.edu/?fbclid=IwAR2xDyDKY9z6PQ37cNmpyKlmMgMtK97gt46936wv5owFfxX7PVZ_2ov9Jao

Define your area and on the right side towards the bottom they have a "vertical exaggeration" and take it up 4x or 5x. Then import the model into Aspire, get the shape of your state from google and "cookie cutter out" the part you want to keep. Works a charm! I did it with the Big Island of Hawaii in plywood and then set up all my scout troop 50+ mile backpack trips: make the terrain map and then a line indicating the hike route. Made great gifts after the trip (Grand Canyon was challenging!)

As to keeping your work together, I'd be off to Tap Plastics for a 1/8" piece, cut the outline and CA glue it to the back. Then drown it in poly to keep the moisture movement minimal and it should hold together for sometime. Cool idea.

Hah! That's almost exactly the process I used. I don't know if the website was the same, but it had a nearly identical interface.

Regardless, thanks for your input. A lot of people are pretty secretive about their methods and I like when people are open to sharing their wisdom with those who are less experienced.

[dustypilot]

I can sort of understand protecting their work if they make a living at it and invested time and money. This is just a hobby (obsession) for me <g>
Tim