Learning to carve letters in wood

[Lons]

ABW is probably my favourite (although pretty expensive!) .

I presume you mean American Basswood Jake!

Certainly not my favourite carving wood. Soft and easy to carve but useless for anything that's going to be handled much as very easily marked, even with a finger nail.
Not a patch on Lime or better still boxwood which are both harder, little grain orientation and take a much crisper detail. Boxwood especially is superb imo

Just my twopennerth.

Bob

edit:
Sam.
I notice you are in Crook. If you ever get anywhere near Morpeth, give me a shout and I'll give you some sapelle to practice on. I agree with the others but if it's free it's worth a go. My first ever carving of a Peter Berry gofer was in sapelle and I managed.

American Black Walnut...

Ahh....now that is a very different matter indeed. Beautiful carving wood. I have a half finished head and some lovely blanks for future projects. I am a dozey git sometimes - time for retirement. :lol:

 

[monkeybiter]

I have a half finished head

Got any more piccies of that Bob, that one I saw a while back looked very impressive.

 

[Lons]

I have a half finished head

Got any more piccies of that Bob, that one I saw a while back looked very impressive.

I'm ashamed to admit that I have't touched it since Mike. Had my hands full winding up the business, (almost there at last!) and catching up with all the work at home along with the odd game of golf. :wink: I will post when I finally get around to it.

Finished my last kitchen job last week and some display stands yesterday so just a few hours finishing off when the bits come and retirement here I come. \/

Have you done any more carving?

 

[monkeybiter]

Have you done any more carving?

I've got a few unfinished projects on the go, a better green man nearly done, but I don't think I'll be carving any more Oak for a while, it gets hard going! I'm currently looking for a lean or wrinkly older man willing to be photographed as I'm poised to have a go a full size head/bust. I might have to go down the old folks home waving a tenner as I only know fatties like me :roll:

 

[Lons]

Have you done any more carving?

I'm currently looking for a lean or wrinkly older man willing to be photographed as I'm poised to have a go a full size head/bust. I might have to go down the old folks home waving a tenner as I only know fatties like me :roll:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Knot Competent]

I've learned a huge amount from this thread, and am encouraged to have a go at carving letters in the near future. However I'm not very conversant with Word (2007 in my case) and can't find how to print in Outline, or Mirror Image. Can a kind soul direct me to where I can find them, please?

 

[AndyT]

I've learned a huge amount from this thread, and am encouraged to have a go at carving letters in the near future. However I'm not very conversant with Word (2007 in my case) and can't find how to print in Outline, or Mirror Image. Can a kind soul direct me to where I can find them, please?

Outline is an effect applied within Word. Type your text, select it, right click, choose "format font" and you should get a dialogue box with options including Outline alongside others such as Bold, Underline and Shadow.

Reversing will be available through your printer. Prepare your text, choose File then Print. (Don't use a quick print button which prints direct without letting you change settings. ) Don't click on Ok. Instead look for a button labelled Properties which will lead to various options according to what your printer can do. It should include reverse or mirror alongside things like scaling to fit the paper or printing sheets in reverse order.

 

[Knot Competent]

Thanks Andy, that's just what I needed!