I have been very candid about the fact that I am a nerd. Well, on a recent trip through Lowes, I found a $15, 24″ table round…it looks something like this:
So I thought I would inject it with some Super Solider Serum (aka Minwax Stain) and turn it into a Captain America Shield! I was already preparing for a wooden American Flag project, so I conveniently needed the water based wood stain for another project anyway.
I made circle templates from foam in order to be able to add some detail around each of the bands of the shield. I made these foam circles after knowing I would be using a Dremel with a guard to cut the grooves. My diameters for my foam circles were then 16 3/4″, 11 3/4″, and 6 3/4″. That accounts for my 1 1/8″ guard on my Dremel tool, and leaves a 2 1/2″ band for each of the stained areas.
I explain how I created the grooves on my YouTube channel (see below)…to me this was a “Thanos” level bad guy, because I had to strategize for 5 years to figure out how to beat it (ok, maybe it was more like 5 days…for real…)
Anyways, after cutting the circles into the shield, I cut the star into the shield (the star template can be found here). Then, I moved on to staining. I used Minwax prestain, and then followed that up with Minwax water based Crimson, Gray, and Denim Blue stain (the new kind that has a high solid concentration for vibrant colors).
Then, I used Shou Sugi Ban! The Japanese art of burning wood to bring out the grain. I did not totally burn the wood like the traditional method, but I singe it to enhance the color and give it some “battle damage”.
To finish it off, I used some spray Helmsman polyurethane (clear semi-gloss) to give it a “fresh” appearance. I used three coats of the polyurethane, and I used the spray version to avoid burring my stain colors together.
I’ve always wanted to have a Captain America shield, and now I do! It will hang on my wall, forever…on my left…last Captain America joke right there…
