Supplies
Having become a seal sitter, I had a big sign and nothing to put it on. So I went to B&Q and bought some 3mm board for the backing, an axe, a saw and a heavy duty stapler. I already had an old length of wood in the garden.
B&Q, incidentally, stands for Block and Quayle: Richard Block and David Quayle, who opened the first shop in a former furniture warehouse in Southampton in 1969. Quayle is about as Manx a surname as there is, though I regret to report that David Quayle himself was born in Banbury. Richard Block, meanwhile, was by his wife’s account so hopeless at DIY that when a door handle defeated him he took it off and left a hole in the door for a year.
The point
I took the axe and worked a point into one end of the wood. This was much harder work than I had expected, and the most challenging part of the whole project.
The board
For the backing I used the A3 sign as a template, scored the board with a Stanley knife, snapped it along the score and tidied up the edges. The stake was shortened to an appropriate length with the saw, and the board nailed on with four nails.
Then some Gorilla Glue on the board, the sign laid on top, and the edges secured all round with the stapler, the backs of the staples hammered down flat so they do not protrude.
The result
I am actually quite a handy man when I want to be, and I think I now have the finest seal sign on the Island.
Still need that seal, though.
