A tight, two-week turnaround, design modifications and material considerations didn't faze Sign Depot's construction of a 16-sign program for this popular Toronto watering hole.

For 15 years, Sign Depot has developed strong partnerships with other sign companies and design firms that have yielded many rewarding projects. One of our favorite design-firm partners is Toronto-based Mackay/Wong Strategic Design. We know a job from them will present an involved concept and manufacturing challenges – and, it will look great. Our companies have built a relationship through mutual trust, excellent communication and esteem for our respective skills. This rapport allows us to work efficiently for both customer deadlines and profitability.

A recent project involved re-branding Toronto’s Fynn’s of Temple Bar, an Irish-themed pub. The program included 16 signs, most notably a 34-ft.-long, exterior-building sign. The designer outlined the signs’ general dimensions and described the “feel” that signage was to convey: “Old World warmth and invite patrons in for a pint and some steak stew.” The system features dimensional signs fabricated from wood, PVC and HDU, as well as wrought iron, 3-D letters and, as its visual centerpiece, an illuminated claddagh design, a traditional Irish knot.

Fabricators applied a latex-paint, faux finish to the Crezon® plywood base structure.

Our first task was to create a scaled, vector drawing of the existing building. We fine-tuned Mackay/Wong’s original design with CorelDraw and Adobe Illustrator, and then devised the signage using CADlink’s SignLab® 7.1. Having taken measurements onsite, we implemented several, minor changes to the original design, such as resizing the text and thickening some border lines. These changes improved the sign and the electrical-wiring fit. This underlined the importance of trust – the designers at Mackay/Wong relied on us to make those dimensional adjustments while retaining the design’s character.

Sign Depot operates two divisions. Sign Depot Wholesale supplies other signshops with both finished and unfinished carved cedar signs –

our schedule is a tight, 10-day turnaround. For such large projects as this, our retail division’s production schedule usually requires four to six weeks. However, Fynn’s ratcheted up to crunch time when Mackay Wong asked us if we could take down the old sign and put up the new one within two weeks.

A Sign Depot fabricator details the freshly routed sign panel.

Peak efficiency

To address such red-hot deadlines, organization is key. So, we drew up a daily production schedule by working backward from the install date, which kept us on track and made that time constraint possible. Considering January weather in Toronto, we engineered as much of the signage indoors as possible.

Therefore, we built the largest sign in two sections – each half would require three installers to lift it. We disguised the middle seam by staggering the wood-trim joints and hiding the seam behind the Irish knot feature. Installation merely required hammer drills and Tapcon self-tapping, concrete screws.

We milled the chamfered framework from Western red cedar. We couldn’t mill portions of the mouldings, so we turned to one of our suppliers, Snider Plywood Specialties, which offered a huge selection of moldings and recommended a combination of chair rail and crown to achieve the right look. Knowledgeable, specialty-items vendors really sped up the production process.

Close-ups of the claddagh knot and logo faceplate prior to painting

Built to last

We designed and cut Crezon plywood to fit around the windows and created the baseplate upon which all the other substrates were fastened. Simultaneously, our staff began developing finishes and flourishes.

Only the frame and crown comprise real wood, but we wanted the whole sign to replicate this look. We developed a Cetol walnut finish applied over latex paint dabbed with a rag to make the plywood resemble old, weathered wood. We brushed on a coat of light-brown latex and covered it with dark brown latex that was ragged off.

After we applied three coats of Cetol 23, we lightly sanded the panel to give the latex some “tooth.” We completed this step with an electric, palm sander and 120-grit sandpaper. We learned Cetol yields a strong finish from other signshops for whom we fabricated wholesale, sandblasted signs. Through these partnerships, we’re constantly learning about new materials and techniques.

To provide the appearance of a rich wood grain, Sign Depot painted the HDU and wood components with Cetol coatings. LEDs light a face panel; Moir lauded their ease of use and versatility.

The original design called for wrought iron. However, real iron proved too expensive, so we explored alternatives. We found peen-hammered HDU (we use Jasper Plastics’ DesignBoard®) and Intecel PVC resemble wrought iron. This worked particularly well with the small projection sign hung at the end of the main sign.

We painted the raw PVC with Gripflex as a base primer because of its tight adhesion to plastics, which we covered with Sherwin-Williams’ P2A40C dark grey primer and topcoated with 1Shot® UV-resistant, acrylic clearcoat to amplify the shine. This job lent itself to Magic Sculpt, an epoxy putty, which we used to create such details as oversized, imitation-wrought-iron rivet heads that help convey the impression of old-world craftsmanship.

Sign Depot milled the frame from Western red cedar; for problematic moldings, the shop purchased components from a specialty-mold vendor.

We milled the Celtic-knot logo and the text from HDU on our 4 x 8-ft., AXYZ Automation CNC router table. To make this logo glow, we nestled it under a bed of LEDs.

LEDs have greatly expanded our abilities – prices can be quoted quickly, and they’re very easy to use. Extensive electrical knowledge isn’t required to build dynamic, halo-lit letters and illuminated features into our projects. A licensed electrician hooked up the 120V power source.

To replicate wrought iron for this hanging sign, fabricators layered HDU and PVC. To mimic rivets, the shop used Magic Sculpt, two-part epoxy.

After nine working days, the sign was ready to install. We rested the two sections on scrap wood that we’d bonded to the building’s stone walls. We fastened both halves with Tapcon masonry anchors and applied silicone to the round heads of cut-off, carriage bolts over the counter-sunk screws to make the fastening look more substantial. For a final touch, we installed matte-black, gooseneck lights with halogen lamps to amplify the wood’s warmth.

January sign installations in Canada aren’t for the faint of heart; this installer endured 5º F on the job.

Other signs fabricated for this package included:

• sandblasted-cedar, exterior signs;

• refurbished awnings;

• a wrought-iron, archway graphic;

• V-cut, routed, gilded signs around the bar; and,

• general wayfinding signage.

The completed, 34-ft.-long sign affirms the synthesis of innovative design, traditional craftsmanship and modern materials yields environmental graphics with tremendous curb appeal.

Many hands, light work

Ultimately, the client was very pleased, and the designer appreciated our ability to capture the designs’ spirit. And, of course, we were proud of another success. Partnering with the other companies that have complementary expertise adds to Sign Depot’s versatility and, in turn, opens doors to more complex projects. I encourage other signmakers to develop strong relationships with those who can help you achieve your goals and make your company stronger and more profitable.

To read other related articles on this topic, visit www.signweb.com/fabrication

Equipment and Materials

Adhesives: Clear silicone, from Wurth USA (Ramsey, NJ), (201) 825-2710 or www.wurthusa.com; two-part epoxy, from West System (Bay City, MI), (866) 937-8797 or www.westsystem.com; Gorilla® wood glue, from the Gorilla Glue Co. (Cincinnati), (800) 966-3458 or www.gorillaglue.com; Weld*on industrial adhesive, from the IPS Corp. (Compton, CA), (800) 421-2677 or www.ipscorp.com; PL Premium polyurethane construction adhesive, from LePage Products, a division of Henkel Consumer Adhesives (Avon, OH), (800) 321-1733 or www.henkel.us

Coatings: Dulux Weathershield exterior-latex paint, from ICI Paints, a unit of Akzo Nobel Coatings Inc. (Norcross, GA), (800) 223-3301 or www.akzonobel.com; Cetol 1 and Cetol 23 coatings, from Sikkens Wood Finishers, a unit of Akzo Nobel Coatings Inc.; 1Shot® UV acrylic clear, from One Shot LLC (Gary, IN), (219) 929-1684 or www.1shot.com; P2A40C dark-gray primer, from Sherwin-Williams Inc. (Cleveland), (216) 292-9207 or www.sherwin-williams.com; Grip-Flex® translucent sign coatings, from Akzo Nobel Coatings Inc.; Magic Sculpt molding epoxy, available from Abracadabra Signs (Ayr, ON, Canada), (519) 632-5220 or www.abracadabrasigns.com.

Lighting: Pinnacle Lighting™ white LEDs, from US LED(Houston), (866) 972-9191 or www.us-led.com.

Router: CNC table router, from AXYZ Automation(Burlington, ON, Canada), (800) 361-3408 or www.axyz.com.

Software: SignLab 8 sign-design software, from CADlink Technology Corporation(Ottawa, ON, Canada), (613) 247-0850 or www.signlab.com; ToolPath™ CNC-routing software, from AXYZ Automation.

Substrates: Crezon® plywood, from Simpson Timber Co. (Shelton, WA), (253) 779-4600 or www.simpson.com; Western red cedar, available from such sign-blank vendors as Allwood Sign Blanks (Errington, BC, Canada), (250) 248-9758 or allwoodsignblanks.com; DesignBoard® HDU, from Jasper Plastics Solutions (Jasper, IN), (812) 481-2760 or www.jasperplasticsolutions.com.

Vinyl: Mimaki FX-CG 160 cutting plotter, from Mimaki USA Inc. (Suwanee, GA), (888) 530-4021 or www.mimakiusa.com; Avery A6 translucent vinyl, from Avery Dennison Graphics & Reflective Products Division(Painesville, OH), (800) 443-9380 or www.averygraphics.com.

More about Peter and the Sign Depot

The Sign Depot Inc. is located in Kitchener, ON, Canada, one hour from Toronto and one hour from Niagara Falls. In 1992, having just earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, Peter Moir started the Sign Depot Inc. as a one-man shop. Now, the Sign Depot employs 10 talented and dedicated sign makers, designers, project managers and administrative staff. The company has developed a loyal market by focusing on carved, 3-D sign work and putting in extra effort to achieve success.

The heart of the business revolves around inhouse woodworking, finishing and sandblasting facilities. The Sign Depot Inc. recently expanded by founding a wholesale division, which provides sandblasted finished or unfinished wood and cutout logos to other North American signshops. To view additional samples or to find out more about the company, visit www.sign-depot.on.ca.