Glen-L.com

Guys:
How have you been getting your boat name put on the Mahogany transoms with gold leaf?
Do you go to a local sign painter?
Who do you get a estimate from, and,
How Much does it cost?

Kens.

I got fake gold leaf on a vinyl decal. It was very reasonable, and easy to install. Let me know if you want the contact info.

If you want to try DIY, Don Danenberg's book has all the instructions.

Otherwise, I guess you could try "sign painting" in your Yellow Pages.

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Bruce.

~~ Do what you love, and love what you do. ~~
~~ To me - only my boat is not yet perfect. Everybody else's is to be admired for I know the path they have walked (Dave Lott, 2010) ~~
Dow's Monaco Project

Hi, you will be hard pressed to find a Painted sign these days. Most all of them are fully computerized so what you get is a decal. They can be very large and some come out of large machines on canvas for banners.
Have one give you a print out of your design then you can get a cost. Something for a transom should be about $100.00. Once you put it on you need 2 coats of quality varnish over it (clear varnish) You could gold leaf over it after putting it on then I would use 3 coats of varnish. These can be mailed to you and are very easy to put on so if you run into very high prices I can provide a name of a shop that has done work for me for 25 years. Good Luck, Stan

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Wood lasts generations.

Mine are vinyl from a sign shop. They cut the sign. then put a second sticky surface on the face. This maintains the letter spacing.

You mist the surface with lightly soaped water. Peel the back off. The water allows you to move the lettering around on the boat. Once your happy squeegee out the excess water. Now, remove the facing paper.

Work out any bubbles that you can.

Bill

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Mini -Tug, KH Tahoe 19 & Bartender 24 - There can be no miracle recoveries without first screwing up.
Tahoe 19 Build

I guess you'd have to call this "snob factor" but I really want to try my hand at the real thing. ....even if it's on just a little test peice.

But the Nashville Fire Dept trucks all have the fake stuff that Bruce just mentioned and it does not actually look fake at all. In fact, it looks darn good! Unless you walked up and actually felt the edges, the only "giveaway" is that the engine turning is just too perfect, too symetrical.

At the Gathering this past weekend, Bob Maskel made a good point about his boat that is apropos here. He said that if the Gathering ever turned into a real boat SHOW, he'd probably stop comming because his boat was n ot built for show. He built it to use and use a LOT! So that vinyl decal gold leaf might still be just the way to go using Bob's criteria. It doesn't have to look "pebble beach" only good.

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Isn't it amazing!! The person that never has the fortitude to pursue his own dreams, will be the first to try and discourage you from pursuing yours.

Paint or vinyl on Mahogany, the sun will still darken the wood. It already is on my boat. When I have to change the lettering the image of the first will still be there.

My thoughts are with Bob Maskel's. The Gathering is about boat builders, not show. I'll show you my mistakes and fixes. I said in 2007, "When the Funnel Cake vendor shows up I'm gone!".

Bill

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Mini -Tug, KH Tahoe 19 & Bartender 24 - There can be no miracle recoveries without first screwing up.
Tahoe 19 Build

All the lettering on ENNOCENCE is 22k. gold leaf that has a clear film on it to protect the gold ,the edges of all the letters were sealed with some type of sealer applied with a striping brush.I had it done in Gulf Breez about 50 miles from home.Had a hard time finding gold leaf all other sign shops tryed to sell me the fire truck stuff gold (engine turned).I think I gave around $300. for name on transom and Fl # on bboth sides.You should be able to find gold near home the guy that done mine done some yachts and charter boats around Pensacola Fl.That's why he has it on hand.

You might also consider looking into asking antique dealers where they get their furniture repaired, they will probably have a lead on a good leafer

If you use gold leaf as used on antiques it would need to be covered with some type of clear compatible with your boats finish to protect the gold from salt and other nasty stuff in the water.

So, with all having been said thus far, what is the best choice for long term durability? The new fake gold decals, or, real gold leaf?
I did talk to a local sigh shop, he offered 3 choices. Real gold leaf for $$$$; fake gold leaf decal; and yet a second type of gold decal.
right now, I dont understand if real gold leaf is merely expensive, or, more durable, or what?
Obviously they can take a computer generated decal and make that faster & easier; but what will hold up long term?

Ken Mine was computer cut same as the vinyl .I dont know if you ever looked closly at mine it also has avinyl shadow under it.I can find my guys e-mail if you like

If nothing else, the inexpensive gold leaf decal could
be reapplied should any of the letters start to peel.
My sign guy told me the decal should hold up well,
but it could be sealed with a thin paint line around the
outer edges of the letters in white similar to a shadow line to help
prevent the vinyl from peeling.
He didn't reccomend completely sealing over the entire
name. The vinyl will expand and contract at a different
rate than the finish applied over it, causing the finish to
crack and peel.
I will be using this material on my Crackerbox.

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If you don't build it now, You will regret it later!

Crackerbox Build:
http://s232.photobucket.com/albums/ee255/jtpatronimfg/

Just like to offer up the little bit I have recently experienced.

Went to a jewler in July to get a wedding band, I really wanted platinum. Jewler told me the price of gold and plat. were sky high, watch the prices and come back in a month or two. Went back a month later, the price had dropped substantially. My point here is that the price of gold changes, if you catch it at the right time, you should be able to see some savings.

I watched New Yankee Workshop and thats where I got the idea for an antique dealer. The leaf is applied to the surface with a rabbit glue, not sure how that would hold up, but sealed under epoxy might hold up well.

Gold leaf will not fade with time or sunlight exposure, but epoxy will. I also don't have any idea how the gold and epoxy may react.

A while back while at Home Depot while I was at the paint counter there was a gold leafing kit that you could buy. This stuff looks like the real deal. I would suspect that you could find these kits at one of those craft stores or maybe a good artist supply store.

There are two methods, both relatively the same.

First you need to make a stencil out of that plastic stickyback film of what you want to have leafed.

Next you spray and adhesive film over the stencil.

Now remove the stencil and depending on the kit purchased apply the leafing agent.

The one kit I saw you placed sheets of the leaf on top of the adheasive and pulled the sheet back and the leaf would adhere to the adhesive, then you brused of the excess with a fine brush.

Another kit used a type of leaf "Flake" which you pulled out of the bag and layed over the adhesive and then brushed off the excess.

I remember seeing a third type that simply used a fine powder and fine brush to apply the leaf powder to the adhesive.

All three were very delicate just like the real thing and could be engine turned with a very soft cloth balled up and turned with very light surface pressure or just left as is with just a fine rubbing with a soft cloth to have that buffed gold look.

HTH -Eric

You can get your own gold leaf from www.tcpglobal.com. They are a mail order automotive body supply site I buy from them quite bit. You are looking for "patent" gold leaf to get the real stuff. Comes in a book of 25 pages or leafs for about 50 bucks. You need some sizing and a good panel brush, sizing is the glue which is what makes it stick the brush is to apply the sizing.
First time I did this it took about two hours to prep, leaf, top coat the design. You will really need a top coat.