[yoyotammo]

Hello, I'm in year 12 and we a currently making Dartboard cabinets. Essentially I'm trying to make the two doors on mine look like a shield and am working on making a trimming and a giant cross for the metal out of ply that I plan on making it look like metal and will rivet in. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can make this ply look like metal. I do have access to metal but have no experience in using it and think my woodwork teacher would prefer if I just used wood.

Regards,
yoyotammo
\/ Essentially what I'm trying to make but two doors, door are already made.

 

[woodnthings]

metallic spray paint

For a coating applied to wood, you can use a metallic spray paint like these:
http://www.tcpglobal.com/spraypaintdepot/metallic-paints.aspx

For a glued on layer you can use a metallic HPL laminate like these:
http://www.high-pressure-laminates.com/metallic_laminates_generic.php

Or this: http://www.formica.eu/product-overview-laminate/decometal-by-formica-group/4/

 

[Steve Neul]

It looks like the metal is hand hammered. You might go over it and distress it some makeing some dents and marks in it and then prime the wood sanding between coats until you cover the grain. Then to give it some texture lightly spray it with some stone paint available in aerosol cans. It's possible the stone spray might be a little too much texture. You might have to lightly sand it with 220 grit paper after it dries and then coat it with a graphite topcoat paint. If the graphite paint is too gray you might overspray some chrome paint while you are spraying the gray. Test the procedure on some scrap wood before going further.

 

[jschaben]

For a coating applied to wood, you can use a metallic spray paint like these:
http://www.tcpglobal.com/spraypaintdepot/metallic-paints.aspx

For a glued on layer you can use a metallic HPL laminate like these:
http://www.high-pressure-laminates.com/metallic_laminates_generic.php

Or this: http://www.formica.eu/product-overview-laminate/decometal-by-formica-group/4/

Hi wood - will that stuff give a metal look out of the can? I've always had problems with the grain showing through unless I used a coat or two of high build automotive primer and sanding to at least 220, usually 320, between coats.

 

[yoyotammo]

Hey guys, thanks heaps for all the help getting some really good ideas. If possible I'm trying to keep it cost efficient of under around $50 on presentation. On the account I'm only making the trimming and cross to look like metal and my doors are currently around 450Wx900H mm. I'm also looking at painting the wood and plan on damaging that a bit. Ideas of marking the wood would be helpful as well at the moment all I can think of is hitting it with a hammer. Anyway thanks heaps for the help :

Also I live in Australia WA so the best access I have to things would be what ever is at my Local Bunnings which isn't a great deal.

 

[cabinetman]

You have a few choices. The doors themselves could be plywood to get the grained effect in your picture. The edge treatment could be as simple as 1/8" tempered Masonite. That would give you a smooth grain free surface to paint. It would also be an easy surface to create a "mottled" metal look by distressing it with a ball peen hammer. There are many metallic paints available in spray cans. To add to the realism, you could glue on some chrome, or brushed metal acorn cap nuts.

You could also use a metallic laminate. There are High pressure metallic laminates that have a substrate backing which is a resin impregnated Kraft paper. This type is what's normally used for laminating countertops and cabinets, but instead of a color or woodgrain face, it's a metallic overlay.

Or, you could use an all metal laminate, which is basically an anodized aluminum sheet to look like various metals. Both the all metal and substrated metal are difficult to work with, and very expensive.

.

 

[woodnthings]

not out of the can

Hi wood - will that stuff give a metal look out of the can? I've always had problems with the grain showing through unless I used a coat or two of high build automotive primer and sanding to at least 220, usually 320, between coats.

Apparently the question is how to make the metal cross from wood...

The easiest solution is to use metal to start, with of course.

But if you must use wood then it's a longer and more time consuming process. You will have to seal, prime and sand the plywood several times beforehand. If the look of the cross is a hammered finish, use some heavy duty aluminum foil, a spray adhesive and press it onto the plywood. Then you can strike it with a hammer or a chain to give the distressed look, being careful not to break through the foil. I would not use plywood unless you have 1/8" Baltic Birch which will not easily crack at the joints.
OR distress the wood first then apply the foil ... which ever works best. Then a metallic paint can be applied over the foil. The budget on this is very limited as well as the material sources, so this approach would meet those criteria.

 

[afx]

My mom used to do this when I was a kid.

Sand it smooth, prime, spray with silver, ding the hell out of it. Get some black paint (pref oil based) and paint over the top of the silver, then take a rag with a 50/50 paint thinner/water mixture and wipe off the black. The black will stay in the crevices and give it a metal look. She also made sure to scrape it in one direction using a wire brush to give the look of a metal grain.

It always looked really good to me.