Need letters to carve in Wood

danmart77

Dan
Corporate Member
https://www.finewoodworking.com/2006/10/15/letter-carving-basics

I am hoping to hand carve the names of families, schools and other titles in the crest of a chair or a settee. I would like to use something like McDermott demos in the video. Maybe somebody knows of a way to get letters cut? I do like the letters like New Times Roman and Palatino for carving.

Any help much appreciated.

184631


184632
 

nn4jw

New User
Jim
Dan, the way I'd approach this would depend on how often I'd be doing it. If I thought I'd be using the same font and size more than a few times I'd start on my PC with Word, pick out the font and size, then print out the alphabet. Next I'd use carbon paper and transfer the letters and numbers to sheet brass. I've seen what you can do with brass so that should be right up your alley. Or I'd print directly on heavier card stock if I didn't mind redoing it after a few uses. Then cut the templates / stencils. Should be quite a bit less expensive than looking for pre-made templates and you are only limited by the fonts available in Word.

After that it looks easy to follow the video.
 

Hank Knight

New User
Hank
Here's an idea I've tried that works fairly well, but could use some tweaking:
Find a font you like on WORD, or look online for other font styles. Type or download the letters and scale them to the size you want to carve. Then flip the text (or image if you've downloaded the letters) to get a mirror image and print it on a laser printer. Place the printed paper on the substrate, print side down, and iron it with a hot iron. The heat will transfer some of the toner to the workpiece, enough so you can go over it with a pencil to darken the lines, then carve away.
 
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Roy G

Roy
Senior User
Dan, I have Lettercarving in Wood by Chris Pye. This is a pretty exhaustive book on carving different letters. I'm south of Southpoint mall and you're somewhere in Durham. We could transfer the book somewhere in between if you would like to peruse it.

Roy G
 

danmart77

Dan
Corporate Member
Roy, Jim and Hank thank you for the ideas. Roy I'd like to come by or get up with you to look at that book. I am headed down to New Hill next week to see Scott at his shop. Maybe a short visit?

Are you still employed?

Dan
 

Roy G

Roy
Senior User
Dan, Tues, Wed afternoon or Thurs would work. If you come down 751, I'm right off that about 5 mi south of Southpoint. Not working in a job, but my time is still constrained. Life goes on.

Roy G
 

drw

Donn
Corporate Member
Dan, I think the recommendations already mentioned are they way to go; but, I thought I would mentioned one additional possibility. Teachers use various lettering styles for their bulletin boards, so you may be able to find what you need at a school supply store.
 

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