Dimension Wood Signs...How To Make 'Em and Sell 'Em Part II

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Just in case you've forgotten: The first half of this article which appeared in MOTHER NO. 36 was eight pages long and crammed with all I know about setting up equipment for a dimensional sign shop, choosing and buying wood, constructing supporting frameworks, and routing, carving, and painting signs. If you're really interested in the business and you missed No. 36, get it.

HOW TO SET UP AND DISPLAY THE SIGNS YOU MAKE

Choose supports that harmonize with each sign you construct. Generally, this means wood but concrete, rock, and other materials can also be used. And it never hurts to suggest to a customer that he or she might want to do a little special landscaping around your finished installation. Natural plants, flowers, or a rock garden look great at the base of a sign.

Any wooden posts or other wooden members of an installation that touch (or, in some areas, even come close to) the ground should be thoroughly protected with creosote, Woodlife, or some other such preservative. The soil under and immediately around the wood should be termite proofed also. (Remember that wood which touches the ground openly invites attack from both rot and termites.)

Wooden supports (or steel or aluminum, etc., for that matter) should be set in concrete. Center each one in the middle of its base with bricks or temporary scaffolding during the time the concrete is poured and allowed to set (See Fig. 1).

ANOTHER NOTE ON RED TAPE:

Be sure to check out all local ordinances that deal with minimum depth of posts below ground and the minimum allowed thickness of support posts. Before you erect any bases for your signs.

INSTALLATION PROCEDURES

You'll need at least two men to muscle a large sign into place more for the real giants. Typical tools that should be on hand before the job begins include a posthole digger, tape measure, seldgehammer, level, shovel, and if concrete is to be poured proper equipment for the working of sand, cement, and water. You can, if you've planned carefully, predrill all holes and prefasten all bolts, nuts, screws, etc., in your installation. It's usually much easier, however, to provide yourself with a long extension cord on site and just use an electric drill to punch the holes you need when you insert fasteners as you go along.

One inch pipes or dowels are generally sufficient to hold a sign together very nicely, as shown in some of the illustrations that accompany this two part article. Just be sure to lock each one in place with metal pins or nails so that none can work loose later when and if your sign sways, even ever so slightly, in the breeze.

As shown in Fig. 3, a sign that is already bolted to its support posts can be hoisted up Iwo Jima fashion by several (at least three) large men. It can, that is, if the holes for the supports have been carefully dug in the proper locations and checked for proper depth before the hoisting begins. It's dangerous to an expensive sign to try to move it around once it's been set up in this manner.

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