Suggestions for outdoor wood sign

[Lynn Kasdorf]

I have until this Saturday (6 days from now!) to make a nice outdoor sign for my Mother-In-law's birthday party. She has a farm with horses, and I want to make a rustic sign with the name of her farm.

I am trying to decide on what technology to employ. I figure I'll design the lettering in Photoshop, print on paper, and cutout or transfer the pattern.

Here are some ideas:

1. I could freehand rout the letters so that they would be recessed. Then I'd paint the routed letters black. I should probably buy a 1/4" spiral upcut round bottom bit for this. I do have a fear getting it almost done, and having the router catch and mess it up.

2. Similarly, I could freehand rout the negative of the letters- that is the letters would be above the background. I could then use gouges to carve the relief by hand.

3. I could simply hand carve the letters- I think a recent FWW had an article on this? Or maybe a back issue that I read recently.

4. I could sandblast either a negative or positive of the letters. I'd need to find suitable sandblast mask material.

For the wood, I figure I'll scare up a piece of cedar. Of course, I have scads of white oak 1x12 siding scraps, but that would be harder to carve.

I'd like opinions on what method you folks have used that worked well.

Thanks-
Lynn Kasdorf

[Scott Banbury]

I make signs all the time by laying out the lettering full size in Adobe Illustrator, have it printed full size at Kinkos and then spray gluing it to the board I'm routing it into. I then freehand it using CMT's lettering bits. I've yet to have the router take off on me in the softer woods (ERC) I use.

[John Schreiber]

I have until this Saturday (6 days from now!) to make a nice outdoor sign for my Mother-In-law's birthday party. She has a farm with horses, and I want to make a rustic sign with the name of her farm.

I am trying to decide on what technology to employ. I figure I'll design the lettering in Photoshop, print on paper, and cutout or transfer the pattern.

Here are some ideas:

1. I could freehand rout the letters so that they would be recessed. Then I'd paint the routed letters black. I should probably buy a 1/4" spiral upcut round bottom bit for this. I do have a fear getting it almost done, and having the router catch and mess it up.

2. Similarly, I could freehand rout the negative of the letters- that is the letters would be above the background. I could then use gouges to carve the relief by hand.

Either of the above will work, I've had better success with #2 because any mistake with #1 ruins the piece, but only about half the mistakes with #2 ruin the piece.


3. I could simply hand carve the letters- I think a recent FWW had an article on this? Or maybe a back issue that I read recently.

Doable, but it will take some time if you haven't done it before and you won't want to use cedar. It splinters too easily and there is no compromising with its grain.


4. I could sandblast either a negative or positive of the letters. I'd need to find suitable sandblast mask material.

I've always wanted to try that.


For the wood, I figure I'll scare up a piece of cedar. Of course, I have scads of white oak 1x12 siding scraps, but that would be harder to carve.

If you did the raised letter carving and did most of the work with a router, just cleaning up with a chisel, I think the white oak would be the way to go. As I said before, cedar is hard to carve even though it's soft.




I'd like opinions on what method you folks have used that worked well.

Thanks-
Lynn Kasdorf

[Keith Outten]

Lynn,

You can bandsaw or scrollsaw the letters and glue them on a plaque. Large letters can be printed one at a time on regular paper.

You can make a couple of phone calls and find a local sign shop that will cut your sandblast mask on their vinyl cutter. I used to have a local shop cut vinyl blast masks for me...most were less than 20 bucks.

Check our laser engravers and CNC list here at SMC to see if we have a Member who lives close to you, I'll bet you could get a real deal on laser of CNC work from a fellow Creeker :)

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