A few from this morning

[cjones]

Here are a few cedar signs I was able to get out this morning. Any suggestions would be appreciated as I am still learning.

Chris

[dbemus]

They look great! Nice choice of font and the cedar wood grain is beautiful. Looking forward to seeing more of your work!

[myshop1044]

I love that wood, put some Formby oil or mimerial oil and it will give it a rich red finish.

[rmock]

very nice !!! Keep up the good work,

[cjones]

Will using either of the oils help the lettering pop more?

Chris

[myshop1044]

I would think it would, since the letters are an open grain the oils would soak in more than the surface.
I am looking for some pics with the western red cedar, I have a last supper and the carving is darker the the frame.

[myshop1044]

Here is a sample of the LS with oils

[cjones]

Perry, those look great.. I got some Formby's this morning but not sure how to apply. Never done any stain finishing before. It has instructions on the back which say to use their finish applicator, but does it really matter how I apply it? What do you use as an applicator.

Also, here are a few more I completed yesterday. Let me know what you all think. I only issue I have is that some of them are carving through the boards. I have found some fonts work better then others but not sure what to do in order to fix the cut troughs. So far, the worst one has been the Texas Strong sign. Tried some CA and cedar dust but it is too thin to let it work correctly and still look good.

Thanks for looking.

Chris

[fwharris]

The cut through problem is do the font and the size of the text. With centerline it is carving the area between the font lines.

[myshop1044]

I use a soft 1” brush and apply the oil to the letters first, then I use a soft rag and apply the oil to the surface and maybe wipe it off depending on the darkness you want, since it is an oil, let it dry overnight.

[cjones]

Floyd, thanks for the feed back. That is what I was thinking. Even in designer, I would have to change fonts several times until I found one that did not show it was going through and tried it. Most worked OK but now I know which ones to stay away from.

Perry, I will give it a try tomorrow and see how I do. maybe I will have beginners luck.

Chris

[cjones]

I was wondering what you all thought about using a sheet of cedar veneer on the backs of the ones that carved all the way through? Do you think it would look OK or is there a better way to try and fill them in?

Chris

[DianMayfield]

I think the veneer could look nice....or 1/8 ply stained with cedar, might be a little stronger over time.

When the font is that large, try the 90 deg v bit. The thickness of the stroke is what determines how deep the bit goes. It will try to complete the width in one pass. If you look at the reverse of the board in the program, you may see where the bit is making it all the way through. If you like the font, and see it carving through, you can fake out the machine when it goes to "finding surface". Tell it to jog, and place a couple of business cards under that spot. This will artificially raise the starting point of the carve, preventing the carve through.