Ataching Wood Letters to a Backer

[Rockytime]

I've just finished cutting a family name from oak and wish to adhere it to an oak background. What is the best way to do this. What kind of adhesive, brads or what. It will placed on the outside of my daughter's home. While it will be outside it will be under a covered entrance. The letters will be painted black. What shall I use for a weather resistance finish?

[crupiea]

I use clear glue I bought at hobby lobby. Its sort of like clear wood glue. What I found happens is a little squeezes out the side of the letters so you cant tell if you use the clear stuff. I dont know about the weather part as I never leave my stuff outside.

[Brianr24]

Outdoor construction adhesive it’s in caulking tubes usually.

[woodduck]

If the letters are big enough I usualll give a light smear of glue then I put

a few  1/2 "screws in from the back & countersink the heads as I don't trust glueing to a painted surface.

[Roberta Moreton]

Tight bond III Then a coat of poly should do it. Of course I don’t know the extremes of the weather in her location 

[Rockytime]

Weather in Denver is usually pretty mild and the wood is somewhat protected by an enclosure.  The poly coat should work. Thanks.

[spirithorse]

I just use carpenter's glue and rattle can polyurethane unless it is going to get a lot of exposure to moisture.
In that case, I still use the carpenter's glue but, I use Helmsman spar urethane. This urethane, however, will
amber over time and change the color of your oak.

woodduck had a good idea with screws from the back but, I have never found that necessary. The carpenter's
glue will have an extremely strong bond.

God Bless! Spirithorse

[spotsdad]

most carpenters glue will not stand up outside. gorilla glue makes one that you can use outside. make sure you read the label. screws from the backside does give a bit of security.

[new2woodwrk]

I believe titebond III will do the trick !

[Rockytime]

1 hour ago, spotsdad said:

most carpenters glue will not stand up outside. gorilla glue makes one that you can use outside. make sure you read the label. screws from the backside does give a bit of security.

I'll check out the Gorilla glue. I know it is tough. Thanks for the suggestion. I think a poly coat will work for protection.

[hineps]

Just remember that the Gorilla Glue will foam up as it cures. It can make quite a mess to clean up if you have any squeeze out.

 

Phil

[heppnerguy]

21 minutes ago, hineps said:

Just remember that the Gorilla Glue will foam up as it cures. It can make quite a mess to clean up if you have any squeeze out.

 

Phil

thanks Phil, for the heads up. I have never used Gorilla glue and now I am even more sure that I probably will not do so in the future, either

Dick

heppnerguy

[WayneMahler]

For outdoor stuff I use Titebond III for glue. It is waterproof. Top coats are Spar Urethane which is great in weather conditions. 

[amazingkevin]

More great tips an tricks I didn't know.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

A few things here. You said the letter will be black and you are mounting to oak. Are you wanting the oak a natural color or will it too be black. I have done this before so I speak from experience when I say this. If you are leaving the oak natural and just painting the letters black, I would paint the letter with the back side flat on some cardboard so no paint gets on the back. I would then use Titebond III woodworkers glue to adhere them to the oak. What I like to do is lay out the letters on the backboard before gluing. When I have then aligned properly I make witness marks on both the letters and the backboard. Just small enough so you can see them. I usually put on bottom and one side. Now when you take them off and go to glue them you align the witness marks up as you lay the finished letters down in place. You now do not get squeeze out of glue or smears of glue all over the place. I use a real sponge when applying glue for things like this. I do this because it leaves small air pockets for excess glue to seep into and prevent squeeze out  

After the letters are dry and glue is set I would spray the entire piece letters and backboard with a marine spar varnish. Many brands out there. I would have painted the letters in flat black and let the varnish add any gloss that you choose. As I said i done this and it works well and if not in direct rain and bad weather it should last for a long time and if need be it can easily be touched up. This is my thoughts and my tricks when it comes to this. Good luck.

[Phantom Scroller]

I use Gorilla glue for everything now the wood glue for normal stuff backers etc and brown expandable one for my pen making and anything where there are voids to fill. Roly

[Brianr24]

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Loctite-9-fl-oz-Power-Grab-Ultimate-Construction-Adhesive-1989550/206210490

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Man  if you guys are recommending construction adhesive for some little letters than why not the original adhesive that started all those types,  Liquid Nails or PL6000 Will not beat those for holding power. Could also add a few brads per letter. 

[Brianr24]

6 minutes ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

Man  if you guys are recommending construction adhesive for some little letters than why not the original adhesive that started all those types,  Liquid Nails or PL6000 Will not beat those for holding power. Could also add a few brads per letter. 

I agree the PL is great and I would've suggested that. I just found this link and this works good also. And if ur suggesting it's overkill . ur probably correct. But I never mind overkill. And it's not very expensive. That's what I would use. The PL works great.

[oldhudson]

I'm going to jump in here. (I wish we new how large the letters were.) I think Titebond III is a good product and wouldn't say anything against it but for this application I'd recommend Weldbond. It is not readily available. I couldn't find it at Menards, Home Depot or Lowes in my area - but I did find it at the local Ace Hardware. It's less viscus that the Titebond, cleans up with water, and it dries clear so if you get some squeeze-out, it doesn't matter. I used it on the candy plinko game I made. There I attached letters to a painted surface. It worked fine.

I like John's idea of applying with a sponge. With small letters if hard to hold the letter and apply with an acid brush. 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

For those that do not believe wood glue will hold up outdoors here is a project I did 12 years ago. My Dad passed away and it was a hard time for me and my family. We would go to the grave site to place flowers but just did not seem right. I know it was going to be quite some time before the family could all get together and pick a headstone for him and then time for the place to make it and install it and it would be well past winter. I just decided to take a scroll sawn pattern I had of The Lord and enlarge it along with designing a cross. I then added the letters by designing the saying and making them of proper size. This cross stayed on the grave site for almost 1 year and it was outdoors in all the weather and the winter was quite bad. Thus the granite people did not put the headstone there till sometime in June the following year. We did not care so much because I had placed this cross there and the family appreciated it. 

I never shown this on any site before and I only bring this up to make my point. The letters were attached with Titebond II not even III which is suppose to be water resistant. The wood used was mahagony which is a very good outdoor wood and the lettering and design was maple. I attached the letters just the way I described above. I finished in 6 to 7 coats of sprayed on marine spar varnish. When I took that cross away  it was in as good shape as when I placed it there. It served its purpose and held up well so for what the OP is doing here he should have no problems being his sign will not see direct weather.  

[Rockytime]

4 hours ago, oldhudson said:

I'm going to jump in here. (I wish we new how large the letters were.) I think Titebond III is a good product and wouldn't say anything against it but for this application I'd recommend Weldbond. It is not readily available. I couldn't find it at Menards, Home Depot or Lowes in my area - but I did find it at the local Ace Hardware. It's less viscus that the Titebond, cleans up with water, and it dries clear so if you get some squeeze-out, it doesn't matter. I used it on the candy plinko game I made. There I attached letters to a painted surface. It worked fine.

I like John's idea of applying with a sponge. With small letters if hard to hold the letter and apply with an acid brush. 

I have already mounted a couple of the letters. The capitals are about 2 3/4" and the lower case 1 1/2" I picked up the Titebond III this morning and applied it with a toothpick. I applied just enough so there was a tiny amount of bleed out. It is now 3 PM and the glue is dried clear and can't be seen. I'll allow it to dry 24 hours. Thank you for the suggestion. I don't remember the last time I saw Weldbond.