My grandpa had this 1990 Ford Ranger, and he sold it to my parents back when he and my grandma decided to downsize a bit. We continued to call it Grandpa’s truck though, and now my dad is also a grandpa. He asked for a custom front license plate with “grandpa’s truck”on it, and my dad never asks for anything (seriously, it’s impossible to buy him gifts).
Because my grandpa has always been a talented and devoted carpenter, my dad suggested I make it out of wood. I thought acrylic might do better out in the elements, and found some great wood-grain acrylics. Here’s the result:
He was! I am also super happy to have finally given him a gift that he actually uses. In fact, the Glowforge has been great for dad gifts. He also enjoys the plant markers I made for his garden and the guitar picks I made with terrible dad jokes on them.
That was a great idea to use wood grained acrylic. It looks so realistic yet it will hold up really well to the elements. You’ll have to keep an eye on the brittleness though.
Stick it in a 170-180F oven for 1 hr for each mm of thickness. After the time is up, turn the oven off and let it cool. Once it’s room temp you can pull it out and it will be good to go.
