Latest project completed

[Joe Unni]

Hey all,

I thought you may want to take a look at my latest project. Many here have contributed to its success. For that...thank you.

I local church asked a sign company to take an old stained glass window that had been basement bound for 30+ years and mount it to the wall (backlit) to coincide with the church's 100th anniversary. After several discussions between the sign company and the church about possible solutions, it was decided that a wooden surround was in order. That's when the sign company contacted me to build the surround.

Here are the details:
~4' x 6'
Quarter sawn white oak box and faceframe milled from rough (a first for me)
Pinned mortise and tenon faceframe (a first for me)
Relief routed faceframe detail (a first for me)
Brown mahogany TransTint (a first for me)
2# dewaxed shellac sealer coat (a first for me)
Minwax stain (? shade) over shellac (a first for me)
Another coat shellac over stain (a first for me)
Briwax antique mahogany wax (a first for me)

We installed this today and the customer was very happy.

Any and all comments are welcome.

Thanks,
-joe

[Rob Blaustein]

Well let me be (or try to be) the first to say really nice work Joe (as usual)! Did you use the original Briwax or the newer formulation that doesn't have toluene for that airplane glue high, and the potential to mess with what's underneath. If the older formulation, did you wait a while before applying--this has been suggested in the Finishing Forum but when I tried using it on some test pieces that had wiping varnish applied several days before, I didn't see problems. Looking forward to pics of future projects as well.
--Rob

[Steve Clardy]

Looks really nice Joe!!

[Vaughn McMillan]

Very nice job on the frame, Joe. I'm sure all involved will be very happy with the results. With that many "firsts" for you, it's a wonder you've gotten any projects done in the past. (Come to think of it, I haven't done any of those steps before either.)

- Vaughn

[Chad Pater]

That looks great Joe. You will always remember projects with '1st' in them, especially that many.

[Charles Bruno]

Great job Joe!
A lot of "first" and it look good. Its usually the "second" that looks good on my projects.

[Jerry Olexa]

Nice work!! Looks good!

[Julio Navarro]

Great job!

It must be very rewarding to know so many people will enjoy your work!

It looks like a job that will last and be appreciated for a long time. Would make me feel very warm inside.

[Mike Zozakiewicz]

Nice job Joe! Kudo's for taking on so many first on a project like this.

Mike

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Joe...that's a heavenly job! Thanks for sharing.
-Jeff

[Joe Unni]

Thanks everyone for your kind words!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this project.

Thanks again,
-joe

[Mike Williams]

Joe,

The frame and glass turned out great. With a 4' x 6' glass panel, I was glad to see the horizontal reinforcing strips on the glass to minimize sagging.

It may be just the photos, but it looks like the backlighting is a lighting strip with hot spots. If that is intentional, then that is fine. If you want a more even light, a piece of frosted glass behind the stained glass would help. I used a fluorescent fixture with a heavily frosted plastic cover on it for my last back-lit glass panel, and it worked very well.

[Joe Unni]

...I was glad to see the horizontal reinforcing strips on the glass to minimize sagging.

Mike,
Thankfully they were already there - you should have seen the way the glass moved during transportation - I was a wreck. With that, I just cleaned things up a bit. To include, stripping the paint from the sash as well as the steel strips, refinishing both (shellac and wax for the sash and Rustoleum primer/paint for the steel), and cleaning the years of grime from the glass and lead. Very cool that you noticed.

...
It may be just the photos, but it looks like the backlighting is a lighting strip with hot spots. If that is intentional, then that is fine. If you want a more even light, a piece of frosted glass behind the stained glass would help.

To be honest, I was pretty disappointed with the lighting. This was the sign company's contribution. I agree, a glow would have had more impact than twinkling stars. The lighting is actually a string of LEDs made especially for light boxes - they burn cool and are basically maintenance free. This was more pronounced before an 1/8" plexiglass diffuser was added over the LEDs. Once the diffuser was in place, I have to say that I didn't hate the lighting - it began to grow on me - I just didn't love it. My guess is that they counted on the glass not being so translucent/transparent upon completion. When I got the window you couldn't see through any of the panes.

Thanks again for your input.

-joe

[Jason Tuinstra]

Joe, nice job. The finish on the oak looks great.