Concrete stamp!

We are doing a pretty extensive yard remodel that involves concrete work.

Which, of course, means we needed to put our names and the year in the concrete so future homeowners would know what name to swear at when it was time to redo whatever by-then highly dated yard fashion atrocity.

Turned out great!

When I do this for our address in the driveway, I’ll go with 1/4" wood for the letters and try to get a bit more spacing around them and in the holes.


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Great idea, especially in the driveway.

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I wonder if covering the stamp with a release agent would give you a cleaner result?

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It easily might, though I’m not sure. The release agents are usually used for molds where you want the concrete to not glue itself to the mold. I’m not sure how it’d work for wet concrete.

Worth a try. I’m thinking I’ll just oil the stamps for the driveway and see if that makes a difference.

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I have used oil for a release agent in wooden forms for casting refractory, worked fine.
That sure beats the standard stick scratching!

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That looks so neat!!

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If you have some nice leaves to add for decoration that could be great as well though the last time I did that the concrete guy said that I had just destroyed my warranty.

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My concrete guy went out of his way to tell me the perfect time to place the stamp!!

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This looks brilliant! :grin:

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Oh yeah, great idea!

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I have used vaseline and it worked. I brushed it on the mold with a paint brush and left the concrete harden before removing the mold. It still stuck a bit but the end result was very good.

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Great idea!

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Wow, great idea. Did you have to leave the stamp in place for some time to let the concrete set? This definitely beats footprints :laughing:!

(I have two pups so I am ok with paw prints)

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You just need to let the concrete get viscous enough to hold the shape. Then press and remove!

Next time, as per other’s suggestion, I’ll coat with vaseline to make it more clean. That, and make a bit of a bevel around the edges.

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Diesel fuel (aka fuel oil) works as a release agent.