Unfortunately I never grew up the handy sort of man, chopping down trees and the such so my knowledge is this area is laughable at best. I own a "Court of Dreams" piece - part of the Summit Floor that was chopped and sold after the 95 season to make way for the new court the Rockets were going to play on. Over the years though the engravings on the wood do not really stand out. I dont know if they were ever painted or not - I bought my piece from a third party (on this bbs actually). Here is an example of a piece Mine is way less clear than that one. You can easily see what the piece says up close and the Summit Logo and the info about the 94 and 95 Finals, but it doesn't stand out. I am working on a Rockets memorabilia project to hang up in my place and I wanted to include this in it, but I wanted to have the lettering in it either filled in or something where its easily seen what the engravings say from further away. Since its not autographed or anything its just right now looks like a chunk of wood when viewed from more than 3 feet away. I don't have any clue of how to go about getting something like this down. The markings are way too find for me to try to paint in the engravings and I dont know if staining it would achieve the effect either. Plus I dont know if I can/should even stain wood like that without damaging it. I figured maybe there was someone on here that may have a brighter idea than myself or point me in a good direction. Thanks in advance
Maybe fill it with a colored putty, then wipe away? Kinda sorta the way we did "secret messages" to chicks in the 80's with marking without a pencil lead, then asked them to rub it...?
I wouldn't recommend staining it. It should already have some kind of finish on it and for the stain to work well you would have to sand it down which would make it harder to read. Painting may work but could be difficult. You could try burning the text which would make it stand out. Google image search for "wood burning" to see some examples. Wood burning tools are $10-$20 and you can get them at any craft/hobby store. If you decide to do that I would test it on the back to make sure it works ok. You could also check here, either send them an email or ask on their forums to see if they have better ideas or know somebody with experience.
