Free Hand Router Sign - Raised Letters

[Splinter]

These are my first "non-test" Free Hand Routed Raised Letter signs. I did them with a $9.99 1/4" Trim Router using a 12" x 12" plexi base (see Misc album for photo). They are 24" x 16" and will be mounted back to back between two 4x4 posts. I still have a lot of practice to get good but I am fairly pleased with these.

[jeff...]

wow very cool - I was just recently reading about free hand routing in a book I have.

[sapwood]

Wow Dolan, that is impressive
The colorful painting really adds pizzazz. Is that your work too?

Roger

[Splinter]

Wow Dolan, that is impressive
The colorful painting really adds pizzazz. Is that your work too?

Roger

Yep.

[NZAPP1]

Great work Dolan

[NCPete]

great work Dolan!

[Travis Porter]

Looks good Dolan, but I am curious. Did you route out the entire area and leave the letters, tractors and so forth?

[cskipper]

Those are pretty cool!

[Monty]

Looks nice. Looks like it would take a steady hand to do all that detailed work. What kind of paint did you use? I'm just curious about how to protect something like this from sun damage.

[Splinter]

Mike,

That's basically what I did. I printed the words and tractor out on the computer then traced them on the wood with carbon paper. The heart and tobacco plant was free hand.

Looks good Dolan, but I am curious. Did you route out the entire area and leave the letters, tractors and so forth?

Yes, Travis, everything except the plant is raised by routing the wood away around the letters/signs. The brown area around the plant is raised by routing around it but the plant was cut into the wood with a bit. I need to improve by keeping a the edges of the objects a littel more crisp but the process if fairly easy and dosen't take very long but you sure do get a lot of chips all over you. I put the wood on a table and then sit down in a chair so I can get close to the work so I can see the bit really well. You must wear safety glasses for sure and you must stop often to clear the chips away so you can see the lines and so the chips will not build up under the base and raise it away from the work which will cause the recessed areas to be at different depths. I have found that soft wood like pine or cypress is not a good choice for raised letter signs. The edges of the letters chip away too easy. The hard wood like oak holds a better edge.

[Splinter]

Monty, it was just a varity of exterior paint. then two coats of Spar Urethane.

[skeeter]

Nice job!!