CVN-69 Ship's Plaque

This was a project to restore and mount my ship's plaque from the USS Eisenhower (CVN-69) in May of 2015.

This is one of the original ship's plaques that was replaced during one of the Eisenhower's major overhauls.  It spent years in a box in my attic and I finally decided to clean it up for display.  It was originally covered in grime and old paint spatter, so I spent hours carefully cleaning the paint off with solvents and hand tools, being careful not to spoil any of the existing patina.  Once it was done, I built a shallow box out of red oak with the back open so that I could attach the plaque through the front and secure it with nuts from the back.  I stained and finished the wood and mounted the plaque.  

This was the ship that I took my first trap on so it has special meaning, and looks really great on the wall in my office where it hangs today.