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Woodcarving By NUMBERS Pt.6 — Letter Carving by Mike Davies

he art of lettering is a popular form of carving, due to its infinite applica- Ttions. Names or house signs carved in wood can make treasured gifts, while poems and favourite catch-phrases can be docu- mented in a way that will survive the cen- turies. You can use lettering to initial or date pieces of your woodworking or incorporate personal details into your own logo. Letter carving is relatively quick and simple. However, as with all projects, the Photo.1: Lettering is a popular form of carving is a direct representation of the Inevitably aesthetics play a key role. carving drawing. Therefore, a great deal of impor- Ensure that the spacing between the lines tance must be placed on marking out the of words is equal and that the distance individual letters are recognisable. Initial- letters correctly before starting to carve. between words is sufficient to avoid over- ly, this may seem a strange consideration, Prior to the days of computers, the art crowding . but it is a valid point for certain styles. In of lettering required a sound knowledge Note that it is possible to give promi- of the principles of signwriting. However, Photo.2, you will see an old English letter ‘J’. It could be mistaken for a letter ‘T’ or nence to certain words by carving them the computer has made things much easi- larger than others. er, offering a vast selection of fonts that the letter ‘I’. This style of lettering could lead to confusion when used for initials can be manipulated to any requirement in Fig.1: Tool profiles used in this series seconds. That said, it is worth becoming before the surname. familiar with a signwriter’s considera- tions, so that you can make informed Substrate decisions when taking the shortcuts. Thought should be given to the choice of timber into which you plan to carve the Style letters. A highly figured piece of timber is There are many styles of lettering to likely to distract the eye from the lettering. choose from — some plain, some fancy Find a substrate that will complement the and many in between. application and the design. It is important to make sure that the style suits the application. For example, a Spacing and Definition house sign will need to be clear for peo- If you break down words into the num- ple driving by. Therefore a plain style ber of letters and then mark out equally would be the most appropriate. proportioned boxes for each, you are like- Another point to consider is whether ly to have a problem. The result when the letters are positioned will probably be Photo.2: Choice of styles is important if irregular and non-flowing — quite unat- you want the letters to be recognisable. tractive. This is because few letters are of exactly the same proportions. For in- This is an old English ‘J’ stance, compare the letters I and M. The solution is to draw the letters free hand and space them to appear visually correct as opposed to mathematically cor- rect. The height of the letters is a slightly dif- ferent matter. A standard height for upper (capital) and lower case letters should be established and maintained throughout the sign, unless of course you wish for let- ters of varying height to be part of the design. Standardising the height of letters can be regulated by drawing three parallel lines onto the timber. A common scale has the lower case letters one third small- er than the upper ones, although the example shown in Photo.1 uses lower case letters that are just over half the size of the upper case.

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Photo.3: Different letter styles formed Photo.4: Using computer printouts and with thick and thin lines words or sentences from a computer. Use double-sided tape for marking out double-sided carpet tape to stick the Regulating the Letter Form design to your timber and then simply skills develop. carve through the paper into the timber Study the examples of letter styles in below (Photo.4). At the top and bottom of letters within Photo.3. Note that each letter is formed certain fonts, you will notice an ornate with a combination of thin and thick flick. These flicks are known as serifs. lines. This adds interest to your carving. Basics of Carving Photo.5 shows two serifs at the bottom of However, you need to regulate the thick- This series is the letter R, each of which was formed by nesses throughout your text. For example, based on the six making three cuts to carve an inverted you could set the thin lines at 2mm and carving techniques pyramid shape. the thick lines at 5mm. Whatever your presented in the first decision, it will be important to adhere to instalment in AWW The Letter A these guidelines from start to finish. #170 August 2013. We’ll carve our first letter by starting When carving incised letters (Photo.1), It also utilises the basic set of carving with the letter A. Mark out the letter onto note that the wider the line is drawn, the the timber. deeper the cut is carved. tools set out in Fig.1. Use the flat edge of tool #11 (Fig.1) to When carving letters in relief, the Significant Six make the first incision (Photo.6). The wider components are higher (Photo.13). You can review the Significant Six QR Code edges of the letter should be angled This is explained and illustrated in greater towards each other at around 45° to form detail as we progress. Woodcarving Techniques video on your smartphone by scanning the QR code a V-shaped cross-section. (Significant Six QR Code) on this page. Ensure that you achieve clean, straight Angle of Letters Alternatively, type in ‘Record Power lines as you form the walls of the letter A. The letters in a word can be slanted Significant Six Techniques with Mike It is important that the base or bottom line slightly if desired. If you do incorporate a Davies’ into your Internet search engine of the V is centred between the upper slant, set the desired angle and ensure that to view the video on your computer. lines. this angle is maintained throughout the If you wish you can begin the valleys word. Incised Letters using tool #8, but always finish with the Incised letter carving is a relatively straight edge of tool #11 to ensure clean Position of Words quick and easy method, which is there- lines, especially on the surface of the tim- When marking out words, remember fore ideal for the beginner to tackle first. ber. to consider their position in relation to the The level of difficulty will vary with the In Photo.7 the letter A has been partly borders of the sign itself. You don’t want style of font and the combination of carved. Note that the depth of cuts form- to space the letters beautifully, only to straight into curved lines. It may be wise ing the 45° valley must be less for thinner have them form words which are off cen- to choose a simple style to begin with and lines, ie. where the parallel lines marking tre on the workpiece. move towards more ornate styles as your out the letter are spaced closer together.

Accuracy Photo.5: The inverted pyramid shape of Photo.6: Making the first incision on the When you mark out your letters, en- a serif is created by making three cuts letter A sure that the lines of each letter are clean and crisp, with clearly defined edges. If the drawing is unclear, then the carving is almost guaranteed to be the same.

Reference It is useful to build collections of differ- ent styles of lettering. The use of a com- puter and printer makes life so much eas- ier, as you can access a vast array of letter fonts. Take photographs of interesting signs and study the layout and proportions.

Transferring the Lettering One way to mark out your lettering and speed up the process is to print your

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Photo.7: The letter A partially carved Photo.9: The completed letter R involves Photo.11: This old English font provides a carving a curve more challenging pattern for carving

Photo.8: The completed A Photo.10: The letter S presents a Photo.12: At this stage the walls of the challenge letter are at 90° to the surface except Use tool #1 to create an inverted pyra- mid effect for the serifs at the point where where the relief carving work has com- niques in relief letter carving, I have cho- menced in the upper left hand area the valleys meet. sen an old English style of lettering Wrap fine sandpaper around a sanding (Photo.11). This is considered a challeng- block to remove any pencil marks left on ing font as each letter is decorated with the surface of the timber (Photo.8). This fine details, around which the back- will also help to highlight any wandering ground must be reduced (ie. the thickness lines that need to be cleaned up. of the timber is reduced to make the letter The next step is to carve a letter that stand out in relief). incorporates curves. The letter R is an Mark out the profile of the letter on the ideal choice. Note in Photo.9 how the surface of the timber. It may help to shade curve varies in thickness from wide to the letter to make its shape clearer (Pho- narrow. The thickness of the line also to.11). The next stage is to reduce the relates to the depth of the incised V. background to distinguish the letter. This Remember that the centre line of the V can be done by hand, but it is handy to should remain centred between the lines use a router set to a fixed depth to remove on the surface. most of the waste. It is important to form The real test is to carve the letter S the walls of the letter at 90° to the surface (Photo.10). Form the curved lines using of the reduced timber. This will ensure the various profiles in your tool kit. that the edges do not change shape as Note that it is not necessary to have the they are carved lower (Photo.12). exact radius or ‘sweep’ of gouge to meet Just as with incised letters, where the Photo.13: The finished letter in relief the shape of your letter. You can change valley depth varies in accordance with carving the radius that the carving tool produces the width of the outer lines, the same prin- by using the tip of the gouge and sliding ciple applies in relief lettering. Instead of In the finished letter, note how extra the tool to vary the cut. a valley line, you need to create a high ‘depth’ can be added to your carving by ridge line. The ridge should be lower as allowing components to overlap others. Relief Letters the line (distance between the outer lines) An example of this is evident halfway becomes thinner. When carving any style of letter in around the crescent shape of the C sec- relief, a flat chisel (tool #11) is a useful Once again, it is important to ensure tion. part of your toolkit. For your first attempts that the ridge line is central to its outer In this instance the reduced surface and to help build confidence, it is a good edges. If the line is curved, carve a con- has been stamped to help define the idea to choose a plain letter style. cave profile on the concave side and vice carved letter from the background. This is versa for the convex side, as illustrated in especially effective when stains are used However, to demonstrate both the Photo.13. basics and some more advanced tech- because the stain sits in the recesses of the

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Photo.14: Home made tools can be used to texture the back- ground to highlight the relief lettering

stamped area, highlighting the letter. To make this form of stamp, you can simply file a series of V-shaped grooves into a steel bar using a fine triangular shaped file. Then file a series of grooves at 90° to the first set to form a series of point- ed pyramids (Photo.14). For more information on the Record QR Code Carving Power Carving Tool and DVD set used in Promo YouTube this series, scan the QR Code on this page with your Smartphone or type ‘Record Power Woodcarving by Numbers’ into your Internet search engine to view the video on your computer. w

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