best way to paint/glue a college logo on wood?

[hulkster]

i'm making a toy box for my son, and I'm a big Kentucky fan so i want a UK logo to go on the outside.  its just a standard box made out of sanded plywood.  im going to paint the box blue, but for the logo i have two options:

1.  paint one on - but i need a stencil or some way of getting the logo on there so i can paint it.

2.  buying a vinyl logo or adhesive logo - dont know how much these cost but of course it would be much easier. 

thoughts?  here's what i want the logo to look like:

[mccoy178]

I would recommend getting an adhesive logo.  Once attached, apply about 500 coats of clear coat poly on it.  500 may be excessive, but after enough layers it will look pretty spiffy.

[DaOld Man]

Hey that sounds neat!
My daughter is starting at UK next month!

[Ed_McCarron]

i'm making a toy box for my son,  its just a standard box made out of sanded plywood.

Not exactly what you asked, but a tip that you (and others) may find handy if you didn't already know it:

When making a box with a lid, make the box in one piece - then cut the lid part off.  You're guaranteed the top matches the bottom.

[hulkster]

I would recommend getting an adhesive logo.  Once attached, apply about 500 coats of clear coat poly on it.  500 may be excessive, but after enough layers it will look pretty spiffy.

why do you recommend all those coats of poly? 

and as for the top on the box....im not going to put a top on because heavy wooden top = smashed little fingers 

[mccoy178]

Because the sticker is going to have some thickness.  Although slight, with enough coats of poly the thickness becomes very unnoticeable.  I would think a few coats could do it.

[hulkster]

oh i see what you are saying.  well im not that worried about the thickness really....i guess my son could end up peeling the sticker off if we dont watch him closely though 

[ChadTower]

Keep in mind it's a toy box - it's going to get dinged up and beaten on.  I say just get a good quality vinyl sticker and leave it at that.  If he peels it, put on another.  No need to overengineer this one unless you plan on handing it around the family for 20 years.

[drventure]

That's a fun quick project.

If you're good with paint, I'd probably go with stencils, but if not a sticker would certainly be very easy and straightforward.

For the lid, I'd put one on, it makes a great play table and seat, but I'd use those Toybox lid hinges that are either gas damped or spring loaded to prevent the lid from smashing down.

http://www.rockler.com/search_results.cfm?filter=toybox&submit.x=0&submit.y=0

I used that for my daughters toybox. The only way it'd slam down is if you forcibly slammed it down, and held onto it all the way down.

For the finish, poly would work, but this might be a good project to experiment with that super gloss pourable epoxy. I've used it on projects in the past, one pour is like many MANY layers of poly. and super tough too.

it's messy, though, so put down lots of dropcloths!

You can get it at lowes or home depot, but I can't find a link there right off.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=21371&filter=pourable%20finish

Good luck. My daughter helped me build hers. She was 4. Got a big kick out of staining and nailing...well swinging a hammer at least!