Doubleboosts workshop sign

[Micktoon]

As there seems to be a quiet spell in people posting I thought I would hit you with more wood projects ( I do like working in metal too ....honest .... but the shed is a lot warmer than the garage ! )

I have been doing a few wood carved workshop signs for people that have helped me out over the last year, the wood all came from an old pub that was getting pulled down and is good mahoghany about an inch and a quarter thick about 30mm, the whole lot would have got thrown on a big fire if I had not saved it.

First the wood is cut to the size that will take the lettering, this top bit has been sanded a bit before the photo so it looked even more rough than it is here, the bottom bit is for John's sign and the top bit for someone else that might be reading this !



The wood is then routered around the edge to give it the classy look lol and sanded nice and smooth for the lettering to be marked out.


I then lay tracing paper with the lettering traced from a book onto the wood, center and square it up. Carbon paper is then slipped under the taped tracing paper and the letters transfered to the wood.






The next step is to make shallow stab cuts roughly along the center of all the letters , this is so when you do angle cuts from each side the wood has a break to run to in the fibres, otherwise it may run to beyond the far edge of the letter in question. You can see the fine cuts in all the letters and some I have started to cut deeper from each side.



The basic idea is to cut at a 60 degree angle just each side of the cut center lines in three passes until you reach the outer drawn in edges of the letters and in therory you should have a constant depth that meets in a crisp vee at the center line of the letter, I normally do all the straight lines first, then go around all similar curves so you do not have to swap tools any more than you have to. You can see the vees forming here.

First the straights, done with straight tools.


Then the curves, done with varied curved cross section gouges, it takes several tools to get around one curve as it tightens around the letters shape.


Once you have all the letters carved as good as you can get , the top surface is sanded again removing all traces of the drawn lines, its amazing how much the lines make the lettering look neater, once removed you can see any small waves etc in the lines of the letters and slowly go around shaving off edges to neaten things up.



Its almost there in this shot, someone with more skill and experience would not have to go back over as much as I have to get things tidy but with care the finished job looks ok. The lettering is not perfect if someone who knows about these things looks at it but overall I am happy with it.



The plaque is then sprayed with sanding sealer and a light sand off.



Then a mix of bees wax and pure turpentine is rubbed in with an old toothbrush into all the vees of the letters as well as the rest of the surface.



This is then buffed off with a shoe polish brush to get into the detail followed by a buffing with a soft cloth and the job is done !



I have done a total of six now and am so sick I dont have the energy to do one for myself lol.

That bit that was resting on the top at the start ......................... jb3cx ............You have a sign for your wall mate.




To think this wood would have been chucked on a big bonfire by builders is a disgrace really.

Cheers Mick

[dallen]

that top piece in the first photo looks like it has had more then a few elbows propped up on it.

Nice sign

DA

[doubleboost]

The plaque is something I will treasure for ever
I will do you a plaque for your shop Mick
Do you want steel or aluminium
MIG or TIG MMA looks good
John

[DaveH]

wow, that is good Mick

DaveH

[f350ca]

Very nice Mick, really crisp cutting. Well done.

[Mayhem]

Nice job Mick.

[PixMan]

Am I the only one who thinks those beautiful signs would really stand out if the recipients were to add gold leaf to the lettering? Not paint, they deserve the real stuff. ;)

[stevec]

(01-19-2014, 11:00 PM)PixMan Wrote: Am I the only one who thinks those beautiful signs would really stand out if the recipients were to add gold leaf to the lettering? Not paint, they deserve the real stuff. ;)

I think it would be "Gilding the Lily", but then I'm a minimalist, when it comes to work.

[PixMan]

That term is really used for when you spend $500 on a non-desirable car, spend another $1000 fixing it up and it's worth $750 when you got done.

As a minimalist, you might paint the letters with cheap white paint so you can see them from any angle in less than good light. I just feel that given the handwork involved in making them that deserve "the good stuff" as a finishing touch.

I have a sign like those from my grandfather's shop. I found it in cleaning out my dad's garage and it's going up in my shop soon. It's not "Frank's Shop" anymore but if it sparks a conversation about my long passed grandfather, fine. The sign means a lot to me and I'm expecting Doubleboost and Peter value theirs highly.

Maybe not highly enough to do gold leaf though.

[krv3000]

well dun mick