Carving V-cut letters

Leo Calleros · Post by **Leo Calleros** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 11:41 am

I have always wanted to give carving letter on wood a shot, but have absolutely no experience with it.

I am requesting any info on some good letter carving books I can get a hold of to study in the future.

I was admiring thew signs on Doug Bernhardt's web site and remembered this old video named Final Marks about a stone cutter named John Everett Benson and his shop, the John Stevens Shop in Rhode Island.

Since I am on the subject, I thought some of you might get a kick out of this video.

Here is an excerpt from it on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUEwL00U ... re=related

The complete film is here:

http://www.folkstreams.net/film,141

This man is pretty meticulous when it comes to painting those letters. Any idea as to what kind of brush that is that he is using?

Jerry Berg · Post by **Jerry Berg** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 4:22 pm

Leo, Thanks for the links. A very enjoyable watch. His brush looks like a lettering quill.

Ron Berlier · Post by **Ron Berlier** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 3:09 pm

Hello Leo,

There are good books for both letter carving in wood, as well as stone. Which is your primary interest?

Good video as well. Thanks for sharing!

Leo Calleros · Post by **Leo Calleros** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:38 pm

Mainly interested in wood. I have done a little carving when I was young. I have an uncle that restored antique furniture and I used to help him when I was like 10 or 11. a long time has passed since.

joe cieslowski · Post by **joe cieslowski** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:01 am

Leo,

There are several books and at least one video that I know of. All of which show different techniques to the same end.

I believe your best bet is to get a day or two with someone who can give you a good hands on experience.
Seeing that you are from Texas, you might want to contact Ray Chapman. Before going over to the CNC side, he had hand carved many fine signs.

Good luck to you.....there are excellent profits in carved signs but you have to commit to a system and practice it. Making money at this requires two things.....you have to be good and you have to be fast. Practice will pay off.

Joe,

Ron Berlier · Post by **Ron Berlier** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 3:21 pm

Leo Calleros wrote:Mainly interested in wood. I have done a little carving when I was young. I have an uncle that restored antique furniture and I used to help him when I was like 10 or 11. a long time has passed since.

Leo, one good book by Chris Pye is "Lettercarving in Wood: A Practical Course", check Amazon.com

There is also a VHS tape that was put out by Fine Woodworking magazine on Letter Carving. you might looking around on the net for a copy.

However, Joe is correct, to flatten the learning curve see if you can find someone that is willing to show you how.

Leo Calleros · Post by **Leo Calleros** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 5:44 pm

Ron, seems to me that you and Joe hit it right on the head on this one, I am just going to have to get some books and look for the video and try and see if I can find someone that knows how to do this.

joe cieslowski · Post by **joe cieslowski** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 7:11 pm

Leo,

I've seen the video......Signcraft sells it. Please....and this is just one guys opinion....save your money.

Joe,

Doug Bernhardt · Post by **Doug Bernhardt** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:51 pm

Hi Leo and thanx for the kind words. I haven't seen any of the videos mentioned although I do know Chris Pye somewhat. (He was at my place for dinner a couple years ago) He's a top notch craftsman but not as much for lettering as his ornamental work. Joe Chisels here does a mighty fine letter and would try and talk him into showing some foto's or even a few small clips, and the advice to seek out someone in your area is sound. I gave quite a number of workshops over the years and learning over video/book would be difficult at best.

joe cieslowski · Post by **joe cieslowski** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 7:40 am

Leo,

maybe i can get you started here but first I need to know what you have for a background in woodworking. If you understand grain direction and how it is approached to achieve a clean cut, you have a real good start.
I'll wait for your reply.

Doug, thanks for the kudos.

Joe

PS Just as a worthless side note, I produced two videos about 10 years ago on carving letters and carving reliefs for the industry. They were used as teaching aids for my workshops at the USSC trade show in Atlantic City. (How else to teach 30 people to carve in four hours?) Except for the masters, I no longer have them available.

OK, I lied, I just dug down to the bottom of one of my junk piles and found one copy of each. They are VHS tapes and the letter carving one is a copy but still pretty good quality. If you are interested, send me $5 for S&H and a sincere promise to return it immediatly, and I'll let you copy it.