Engraving

[Linwoodjoinery]

Hi all. I am looking to do some engraving in some green oak. Letters mainly but occasionally numbers. I’ve not got a CNC machine but I do have a palm router and a 1/2 router. Has anyone had any joy with any jigs? I’m not a fan of the really ‘rounded’ jigs that are available. Thanks in advance.

 

[mwinfrance]

Thought of hand carving ? Green Oak isn't the ideal material to be letting a router near, for something as precise as lettering, nor a CNC.

Burning the letters ( with a large red hot iron so as to get some depth ) on the other hand.

 

[Linwoodjoinery]

Open to hand carving. Never done it but been a joiner for 30 years so I’m capable of using a few chisels. Anyone local to Cheshire that would like to give me a few pointers or a crash course?

 

[mwinfrance]

Normally you wouldn't carve in "green" but, it can be done, Chisels and gouges have to be extra sharp ( scary ) and you'd want to avoid any seriph type faces ( too awkward to work in green wood unless you are experienced )..Another approach would be to use a die grinder or rotary tool with a coarse kutzall burr , or a tungsten "flame tip" bit. It is going to want to "jump" a lot, so practice on some of the same wood , and will need a strong grip and something to rest the tool hand on, don't try working without support for the tool hand it is dangerous.Draw out what you want first, using something which makes a strong mark " felt tip" watch out for "bleed" on your lines.
How big ( cm high ) are the letters likely to be , house signs ?

 

[Linwoodjoinery]

Normally you wouldn't carve in "green" but, it can be done, Chisels and gouges have to be extra sharp ( scary ) and you'd want to avoid any seriph type faces ( too awkward to work in green wood unless you are experienced )..Another approach would be to use a die grinder or rotary tool with a coarse kutzall burr , or a tungsten "flame tip" bit. It is going to want to "jump" a lot, so practice on some of the same wood , and will need a strong grip and something to rest the tool hand on, don't try working without support for the tool hand it is dangerous.Draw out what you want first, using something which makes a strong mark " felt tip" watch out for "bleed" on your lines.
How big ( cm high ) are the letters likely to be , house signs ?

House name on a green oak porch. 150mm section size so I’d say each letter would be approx 40mm

 

[mwinfrance]

That is small for a die grinder with a tungsten bit, even the smallest ones are still a sort of short cucumber proportions, Dremel type tool ( lidl or aldi will do if they are ins stock, or any version, the branded Dremels are dear for what they are, and not much power ).Power carving with a kutzall type burr ( either "flame shape" or round ball or round ended cylinder type is going to be easier than hand carving.Total tool cost around 40 to 50 squid, UK screw fix may do a Dremel type tool( expect around 20 to 25 ) , kutzall burrs are probably an amazon buy, unless you have a good model making supply shop near you. wear leather gloves.Not welders gloves, too thick but something to protect your hands, not textile as the burrs will wrap into them and rip your fingers to the bone before you notice that they have bitten.

Again practice for a few hours or an afternoon on some scrap, wear eye protection, if later you work dry wood this way , wear a good well fitting dust mask, power carving makes loads of dust in dry wood or stone.

If you can get the power carving head with a flexidrive ( lidl do a copy of the Scheppach ..actually made for them by Scheppach ) for about 25.00, comes as a mini two stone type bench grinder with power take off on one side via flexi drive with a collet type chuck takes up to 6mm shaft bits ).One of the stones is a grinder ( fine ) the other is a polisher.
neat little unit, I have 3 of them as ready to hand, ( one Scheppach, two Lidls) one I can reach to from here in the living room.
When you've carved your letters..carefully fill them in with black paint.

 

[Linwoodjoinery]

Has anyone got any recommendations for a few chisels to start me off at letter carving?

 

[stuckinthemud]

A 60 degree, 10mm v-tool preferably a sow-back aka long-bend

 

[Linwoodjoinery]

This has probably ended up being in the wrong category now as it’s escalated to hand tools but has any got any links or examples or recommendations of the chisels required to get started.

 

[Cobbs]

Proper carving chisels. A selection of straights and a handful of gouges with sweeps that roughly match the curved lines - they don't have to be exact but remember that while it's possible to cut a curve slightly tighter than the curve of the gouge, it's not easy to cut a curve shallower than the curve of the gouge. A V-tool won't be needed for incised lettering, but a couple of fishtail straight chisels and a couple more fishtail gouges of quite a shallow sweep will be useful for the serifs, which I find are simple enough to cut in green wood.

Chris Pye wrote a book on hand lettering in wood which he gives a simple step by step course on learning and is where I learnt to do the job. If you follow the steps in the book it all falls into place quite quickly. Letter carving by hand is now one of the jobs I enjoy most in the workshop - no noisy machines or dust to put up with. Very relaxing and satisfying.

 

[Linwoodjoinery]

Thanks Cobbs. Yes I have bought the letter carving in wood book by Chris Pye and also the woodcarving tools, equipment and materials book by Chris Pye. Just flicking through them both when I get a moment. I think I now just need to get cracking and learn as I go and I also think I will learn which tools I need once I have started with a few. As my daughter would say ‘have you not got a tool for that?’ my reply normally goes ‘if I haven’t I will have I’ll have by tomorrow!’

 

[Cobbs]

I warn you, lettering in wood (or stone for that matter) is rather addictive...