How do they do these letters?

[Aled Dafis]

Edit: woodbloke, yes I know what you mean, but I just feel that there's a way to 'cheat'!

Yes, there's obviously a 'cheat' but it involves quite a complicated panto set up, whereas if you learn to do it by hand, the results are far better and all you need is about three very sharp chisels...and a lot of patience :mrgreen: - Rob

Agreed.

BTW, googling found this, which seems quite inspiring:

http://www.finewoodworking.com/SkillsAn ... x?id=27064

BugBear

Just watched this, it's very impressive and as you rightly say, quite inspiring. His chisels are super sharp :shock: and all it took him was a quick polish on the buffing machine.

Aled

 

[marcros]

I dont know how long these things take, but the chopping board at £100. There is probably £10 worth of oak, say an hour of carving by hand at say £30/hour including the overheads, and an hour of making the board/finishing if done as part of a production run at £30- still £30 profit in it.

 

[jimi43]

That video BB is really interesting.

It is all common-sense really but I just know that I would have done it wrong if I had tried to work it out myself.

Inspired me enough to make a new house name plate......the last one out of Bermuda cedar is in dire need of restoration!

I bet that will carve beautifully....mmmm

Jim

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I'm not a carver, but surely any commercial enterprise would have a system where the the bulk of the work was done by machine then finished by hand?

 

[Sibbo]

Have a look here ....http://woodgears.ca/pantograph/index.html

 

[marcros]

another good link here, just using a V tool http://www.woodworkersinstitute.com/page.asp?p=468

 

[shipbadger]

OK, I may be talking rubbish but as nobody has yet actually confirmed the method used here goes. The lettering on many gravestones (possibly most nowadays) which used to be done by hand is now done by sand blasting. With a reasonably hard wood it occured to me that either all, or at least a roughing cut could possibly be done by the same sort of method. I'll duck back into the trench now

Tony Comber

 

[woodbloke]

Yes there is a cheat, however not necessarily with the carving but the setting out

Edit: woodbloke, yes I know what you mean, but I just feel that there's a way to 'cheat'!

Yes, there's obviously a 'cheat' but it involves quite a complicated panto set up, whereas if you learn to do it by hand, the results are far better and all you need is about three very sharp chisels...and a lot of patience :mrgreen: - Rob

Woodbloke makes some good points however I feel you need a few in and out channel gouges for the curved letters and i personally use a fishtail for the serifs

The examples shown here are stunning and as I said earlier, I've never tried anything like this so am blathering from a position of ignorance. However, I fully accept that other hand tools could be used if required. The only person I knew who used to do this sort of stuff was one of my old lecturers at college and I remember him telling me that the only tools he used were bevel edged chisels...but it was a long time ago around about 1979 if memory serves. It's still something that's on my tuit list though - Rob

 

[bugbear]

I just watched the video again (twice!). The most interesting point is the extent to which the shape and size of the chisels is UNRELATED to the shape and size of the feature being carved. Even the Serifs are cut with the "big sweep" he used for the main curve of the 'R'.

He's using roughly 1" chisels on a 3 1/2" letter, which is surprising.

The key tip seems to be the "knifing" of the centre line as a pre-step, then "just" cutting down to the centre line from the edges.

Easy (!!!!!)

BugBear

 

[AndyT]

Well, I think the question of how the commercial lettering was done has been answered - as has been pointed out, they refer to it as "hand engraved" so I think they probably do mean that a hand has guided a follower round a template in some sort of pantograph arrangement. That fits with the complete consistency of their lettering and the likely profit margins.

But hand carving techniques are more interesting and inspiring, so I'd like to add a link to another video on letter carving -

http://www.folkstreams.net/pub/FilmPage.php?title=141

which is a good one for when there's nothing worth watching on TV - 49 minutes of impressive craftsmanship, including the thinking and getting into the right frame of mind to approach the work.

It does feature a letter R again, so makes an interesting comparison - but in stone, not in wood.

For those who haven't found it, the FolkStreams site from which it comes has some other excellent films of interest to woodworkers.

 

[bugbear]

This thread has done me a favour; long ago I bought a roll of around a dozen chisels, because it was very cheap, and they were all Addis.

http://swingleydev.com/archive/get.php? ... t_thread=1

The various sites, books and videos I've looked at for this thread had confirmed that the roll is an assembled set for the purpose of letter carving.

BugBear