V-Carved Cedar "cookie"

[steve_g]

Here’s a project fellow ShopBotter Bernie Tenpas and I did recently…
It’s a 28”Diemeter cedar “cookie” address sign. The blank was bought from a guy advertising on Craig’s list for $30.00. The cookie was hand cut from the log with a chainsaw and varied more than an inch in thickness. We surfaced it with an Amana insert surfacing bit with very good results! The finished blank was 4” thick.
Not having V-cut end grain before, we generously applied Minwax wood hardener to the entire face… I’m not sure it was necessary, but we got really sharp, clean V-cuts that required absolutely no clean-up!
Several coats of spar varnish gave us a glass smooth surface, we rattle can sprayed the color without masking, wiped the surface clean with a no-nap rag of mineral spirits while the paint was still wet, with very good results…
I’m not sure how the customer will use it, but it would look really nice propped up against a rock in a rock garden!
SG