Becoming Captain America: Part 3 Finishing!

Part 1: Stripping
Part 2: Painting

OK, so here we are. You've got a great shield, its got some awesome colors down, and it looks super sweet right? How could you possibly make it better? Clear coat it. Why? because it makes the finish look even better, it protects it and it feels like a new car when you're done. Lets go!


So the first thing you should do is pull up that last little bit of tape you've left down. You left it down right? right?! good. Hopefully, it looks like this. It might not, and thats ok. I mean you've probably got to start over, but the painting part is the easiest bit to do. One thing I've learned over the years is don't skimp and by cheap tape.  I don't buy the fancy frog tape, but I do at least buy the 3M painters tape, the generic stuff just doesn't stick as well and that will cause you problems with stuff seeping under the edges. Now if you rushed and didn't let the red paint dry long enough you may have marks in your red paint from where you taped over to do the blue. You can take the chance and move on, sometimes those work out once the clear coat is over it, but there's no promise so you're taking a bit of a chance.

When it comes to clear coat you can use just about anything. Some people will use lacquer, some take it to an autobody shop and pay them to spray it like a car and finish it off for them. I like doing the work myself. My personal favorite clear is Rustoleum 2X clear. No real reason other than I had it and it works well. Just like before, read the directions on the can, but usually I'll spray down about 10 coats about 10 minutes apart from each other. That leaves just enough time for the previous coat to get dry to the touch. You can also determine the overall sheen a bit at this stage. LOTS of layers mean there's more to sand through which means a glossier finish at the end. A few layers means there's less to sand through which means a slightly more satin finish at the end. Both are nice, its just personal preference.

THE BIGGEST TIP that I can give for this section is take your time and don't go too heavy. If you work to fast or hover and spray too much clear on and area it will drip and run causing a nasty sag that you can't do anything about till it dries. They are best avoided because it means more work. Here's one now!

Once you've done a bunch you have to play the waiting game and let that all cure and cook through. I won't lie, I don't wait a week on this process either, I usually move on in a day or two because I get momentum and (knock on wood) so far it hasn't bitten me. Some people would be happy to stop at this point. It looks great, its glossy its nice, BUT 90% of the time you'll have whats called orange peel from the way the spray lands, it'll be a texture just like orange skin, still smooth, but not perfect. If you make this picture large you can see it in the reflections where the lights are. If you're ok with it, move on to step 5 now.

Here's where things get fun. Once things have cooked through, take some wet sandpaper. Some start at a rougher grit and work up, 1000 and then 2000. I usually do just one grit, it works just fine. I keep a spray bottle of water around. Wet down the paper and the shield, rewetting as needed to keep things moving and work your way around the shield. With the water you can feel how smooth the surface is and you can tell if you need to hit an area more to even it out. IF you got to heavy and had sags during the clear coat, this is where you can sand them down and even them out. When you finish, don't be discouraged. I know the first time I did it I immediately regretted it because I thought I had ruined everything. I'll leave off today with the sad state of things that you'll have after wet sanding because step 5 is what I call the "restoring the finish" stage where you use products and elbow grease and it pays off.

As always, follow The Wooden Forge on Facebook to get day to day updates and check out the Etsy shop for new products!

Becoming Captain America: Part 2

Part 1: Stripping
Part 3: Finishing
Part 4: The back

Ok so we left off with the shield taped up and ready for step two. This is where I used my ruler attached to the center of the shield with a sharpie in the holes I've drilled in it as a template. Don't worry about the hole in the shield, that will get covered up by the star later. So, looking at that picture, the hole I drilled in the center gets a metal ruler bolted to it temporarily. Because I have guide holes drilled in it, it spins around the shield like a propeller and the sharpie gives me clean circle. Once you draw your rings on, you'll end up with this.

This next step is one of the more stressful moments in this project. You need a steady hand and a sharp knife. Take an exacto knife and work your way around the outer two lines. You could do these separately but I like to do the red first and as one step, doing both rings at the same time. You've got a little wiggle room (pun intended) where variation won't show up but if you get crazy wild it'll be clear later that your lines are all wonky and out of whack. So take your time and remember to breathe.



Ok so here's an important point. Anodized paints are what you want here. They stay transparent so you can see the metal through the paint and don't go opaque which would counter all the hard work you did laying in those rings earlier. I prefer Duplicator paints because I think the colors are closer and like them better. Another good thing is follow the directions on the can. I do one light coat of paint, wait about 10 minutes, lay down another, and after another 10 minutes I lay down a medium to heavy top coat. The first layer won't cover well but thats ok. The last heavy coat gives it some richness and a nice solid covering. Don't get too heavy, you'll get a feel for it as you go.

This is the end of step 2.0, step 2.5 comes after a day of wait.
You need to give this red time to dry before moving on. Don't tape it, don't move on too quick. You'll regret it. I usually do the blue a day after the read but for sure wait 24 hours. If you want to get real technical the can says it takes 7 days to cure... I can't ever wait that long.

Tape around the blue ring that you haven't pulled up yet, OR pull the center tape and then tape over the red. However you want to lay out the last blue circle. I still don't have a great method for it. You want to make sure you don't overlap because you'll see the paints on top of each other.

Once you've done that, repeat the process to do the blue. Leave the last ring untouched, thats the bare metal, the stand in for the "white" and remember what happens when it's exposed? yup, it rusts. so leave it covered and let the blue dry. You'll want to leave it covered until you clear coat the whole thing.

I love how the blue looks while its going down, its my favorite.


As always, follow The Wooden Forge on Facebook to get day to day updates and check out the Etsy shop for new products! Next week, clear coating and finishing!

Captain America Redux

Well, its been far to long since I've updated this and a lot has changed in my world. Since my last post my etsy store transformed into "The Wooden Forge" if you know me, you're well aware of this. But what that means is I'm also more active not only selling things, but making things as well. It has become this sort of nerd haven for me to indulge my need to work with my hands while doing it all with a nerd flair. Its my outlet, my freedom, my "thing" that pushes me to keep trying and learning about more things.

About a year ago I finally tackled what I've decided is THE project for me (at least for now). A Captain America shield, just like in the original Avengers. It has changed some now as the movies have progressed but I still love this original design. SO what that means is I'll be taking my posts on the Facebook page (www.facebook.com/TheWoodenForge) and expanding  the process into a real tutorial so all of you adventurous types can try to make one for yourself.

For now, a teaser of some of the in process shots to tide you over till later. You can see some more at the Facebook page, or my Etsy shop where I have shots of a finished shield.
www.etsy.com/shop/thewoodenforge