I print out fonts to the size I want, transfer to wood with carbon paper, then freehand rout them. I hate the look of stencils. :smile:
Best way to make wood sign?
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Will that’s nice of you offer Dave. I’m still undecided as to what I want to do.
I was just thinking of some painted letters on a piece of wood, but I’m intrigued by the photo idea. I was playing around in windows Paint to see what it would look like. I’m not real fond of the font, but I’m limited by what Paint has to offer. Anyway this just a beginning and I may make some changes:
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I was just thinking of some painted letters on a piece of wood, but I’m intrigued by the photo idea. I was playing around in windows Paint to see what it would look like. I’m not real fond of the font, but I’m limited by what Paint has to offer. Anyway this just a beginning and I may make some changes:
Sleeper,
If you have a jigsaw or scrollsaw, or coping saw (WHAT!), cut your sign blank in the shape of a turtle then letter it. I freehand with my router using a V-shaped bit. You can set the depth somewhat shallow to control the width of the letters. I draw the letters with a pencil, they don't have to be perfect. Then take the router and use both hands to control it. If you rest the outside palms of your hands on the blank, the router can't go anywhere unless you let it. Just pivot your hands, don't lift them off the wood, and the router will follow the pencil lines easily. Try it on some scrap wood first. Once you get your lettering done, spray paint the letters and let it dry. Then just take an orbital sander or do it by hand (WHAT!) until you take the paint off the surface, leaving it in the letters. Very fun projects and they don't take much time at all. Everyone will think you're some kind of hero. Go to it.
Mike Hawkins
If you have a jigsaw or scrollsaw, or coping saw (WHAT!), cut your sign blank in the shape of a turtle then letter it. I freehand with my router using a V-shaped bit. You can set the depth somewhat shallow to control the width of the letters. I draw the letters with a pencil, they don't have to be perfect. Then take the router and use both hands to control it. If you rest the outside palms of your hands on the blank, the router can't go anywhere unless you let it. Just pivot your hands, don't lift them off the wood, and the router will follow the pencil lines easily. Try it on some scrap wood first. Once you get your lettering done, spray paint the letters and let it dry. Then just take an orbital sander or do it by hand (WHAT!) until you take the paint off the surface, leaving it in the letters. Very fun projects and they don't take much time at all. Everyone will think you're some kind of hero. Go to it.
Mike Hawkins
Thanks Mike,Sleeper,
If you have a jigsaw or scrollsaw, or coping saw (WHAT!), cut your sign blank in the shape of a turtle then letter it. I freehand with my router using a V-shaped bit. You can set the depth somewhat shallow to control the width of the letters. I draw the letters with a pencil, they don't have to be perfect. Then take the router and use both hands to control it. If you rest the outside palms of your hands on the blank, the router can't go anywhere unless you let it. Just pivot your hands, don't lift them off the wood, and the router will follow the pencil lines easily. Try it on some scrap wood first. Once you get your lettering done, spray paint the letters and let it dry. Then just take an orbital sander or do it by hand (WHAT!) until you take the paint off the surface, leaving it in the letters. Very fun projects and they don't take much time at all. Everyone will think you're some kind of hero. Go to it.
Mike Hawkins
I was just out cleaning up the shop a little and I came across my old Dremel tool and was thinking about maybe giving it a try. I also have a Ridgid trim router that might be a little easier. I'm really bad with letters and would have to use a stencil.
I might print my drawing out and see if I can make a stencil out of it. If I can spray paint an image on to the wood than I could use the Dremel tool to carve the wood.
I'm still thinking about Dave's idea of using the tile and framing around it or maybe inlay the tile into a large piece of wood.
Sign Making is Lot more time consuming than I thought
I started making the sign today, but it was a lot harder than I thought.
After reading durdyolmans thread “I found a limb on the road” I decided to use an Apple branch I cut for fire wood the other day. I ripped a slice off of it and glued a printed sheet of paper to it.
At first I tried cutting out the letters, but that seemed to be a waste of time so I just started to grind through the paper. The lower case letters were a real pain especially the ‘e’. I then decide to completely change the bottom to all capitals saying KEEP OUT to save some time.
The apple log had a branch coming out of it so I’m going to use it for an arrow pointing to the weed patch.
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I started making the sign today, but it was a lot harder than I thought.
After reading durdyolmans thread “I found a limb on the road” I decided to use an Apple branch I cut for fire wood the other day. I ripped a slice off of it and glued a printed sheet of paper to it.
At first I tried cutting out the letters, but that seemed to be a waste of time so I just started to grind through the paper. The lower case letters were a real pain especially the ‘e’. I then decide to completely change the bottom to all capitals saying KEEP OUT to save some time.
The apple log had a branch coming out of it so I’m going to use it for an arrow pointing to the weed patch.
2
Looks like Sign making is not for me!
Ok it came out looking like crap and will go back into the firewood pile. What a waste of time although I did learn a few things that I should have done. I just don’t like doing things over again and not sure if I’ll try this again for a while.
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Ok it came out looking like crap and will go back into the firewood pile. What a waste of time although I did learn a few things that I should have done. I just don’t like doing things over again and not sure if I’ll try this again for a while.
Thanks for the vote of confidence Dominick, but I don’t know. I decided to try one more time using larger letters and less of them. This time I sanded it completely smooth before gluing down my template and cut out the letters with an x-acto knife. I already lost it and took out a small knick.
I had to quit for now and rethink this. I need a better plan
I'm using a dremel tool and i have to say I think I would have lost some fingers if i used a router by the the way this is going. This is from an apple tree I cut down and it will also be outside
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