Help needed designing honours board

[Httch]

Hi all

I've been asked to make an honours board (name board on the wall) and have been asked to use old roof beams from the building. There's bit enough of this wood to do the whole thing, so I have a solid wood panel to form the main face of the board, and then will use the roof beams to frame it. This is a little outside my expertise, so was hoping for some suggestions on how best to build!

- the roof beams are pine, installed in about 1910, so some have serious cracks down them. I'm planning to fill the cracks with black epoxy before resawing - is that the right way round?
- the panel is solid pine, about 4cm thick, and I'm nervous about wood movement affecting the frame. My original idea had been to construct the board in a similar way to a cabinet door, with the panel floating in a rabbet cut into the frame. I'm not a fan of this method given how thick the panel is, but can't think of another way of approaching it!
- the beams are relatively short, so won't span the full length of the frame needed. What do you guys think would be the most subtle way of combining lengths to make a longer piece for the frame? One option would be to make decorative 'blocks' that are spaced around the frame, which cover the joints.

Any help is much appreciated!

 

[Droogs]

Pegged bridle joints would be fine and free floating panel into a groove in the frame and you'll be fine.

 

[peter-harrison]

It doesn't seem like ideal honours board material to me. You need a good smooth and rather bland surface to do your lettering on. If you fill the cracks with black epoxy those black areas will swallow any lettering. I would suggest that you or they think of another use for the beams more in keeping with their character, and make the honours board out of something better suited.

 

[DBC]

I have made two of these over the years; both for lawn bowls clubs. The most recent one was French oak with black painted lettering. This one looked really good and they were really pleased.

The second one was so long ago now I don’t remember what species it was but I probably glued up some beech to make the panel. It had a painted black background with gold lettering to match their existing board that had no more space for lettering. This also looked good but when the lights were on the glare made it hard to read from a couple of positions in the room. I only mention this if you want to block out the black epoxy you could consider a painted surface. If you were going paint finish you could also use finger joints to make up the lengths you want out of the shorts. Having said all that the timber finish panel did look a lot better than the paint.

You mentioned some decorative pieces to hide your joints. There are a lot of different timber appliques you can get online. Maybe rosettes in the corners and the mid point of each frame section like you might use on door or fireplace casework.

 

[Httch]

Thanks for the advice - might not have been clear enough, but the beams will be used only for the frame and a carving of their crest across the top! Hoping to resaw the wood in such a way that any epoxy is towards the back. The panel is knotless radiata pine, so should work well with the lettering. The idea of the appliques is great, thank you - I'll definitely check them out!