[TomHoffman]

New Here..

I am in the middle of a project that I would like to add some carved lettering. It is an Arts and Crafts Mission style bed. I would like to carve some words into the top of the cap board on the foot board.

The wood is kiln dried white oak with heavy tiger striping. I would like to incise the letters down into the board about 3/8" deep using the Roman Clasical Style.

I have the letter templates, so should be good to go.

Now the porblem, I have never carved wood before, and have been looking into th various reciprocating carvers, I have a Fordom shaft tool, I could buy a new shaft end for it, Just don't know which one to buy and what kind of results I could expect.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

.......

[BobD]

Tom,
If you've never used a reciprocating carving handpiece before--I'd definately practice on some scrap wood first. They can be brutal to a finished piece if you are not careful.

A question: Do you plan on doing any other carving after this? A reciprocating handpiece can be a big investment for a one-shot deal. In that case, I'd suggest using a mallet and chisel. Most letters can be carved with a few chisels--and you can do an admirable job with ordinary bench chisels.

In our latest issue of WCI, Frederick Wilbur shows how to carve a set of Alphabet Blocks using a straight chisel, a fishtail chisel and a couple gouges. The gouges just make it a bit easier to cut the curves on letters; it can all be carved with the straight chisel and the fishtail chisel.

Hope this helps!

Bob Duncan
Wood Carving Illustrated

[KettleKarver]

Chris Pye wrote a good book on carving letters in wood. However, after I read what it takes, it kinda scared me away.

Jim

[TomHoffman]

Thanks for the quick responses.

I have always wanted to get in to carving, I do have some basic carving tools, not very good ones though.

The reason I wanted to look into the power carvers, the ones that use the flex cut bits. Is because of the hardness of the wood. White Oak, is probably not the best wood to start out with. I am not in a hurry to get this done, the bed will be done long before the carved foot board cap is done.

I have looked as some of the self contained units, and I have the fordom shaft tool already, would a new handpiece that recripicates be good enough, or should I get one of the self contained units. 10-11K seems to be the range of cuts per minutes.

Do any of you use this kind of equipment??? How does it work.....???

Tom....

[BobD]

Next question: How big a Foredom do you have? To use the Flexcut RPC handpiece, you need to have the BIG one--the 1/4 HP or bigger. And I think the full Flexcut RPC may be a bit of overkill...but it will definately have the power you need. It slices through oak like it was basswood! I've had the opportunity to try it out, and I was very impressed, but at the price, it really is geared towards the professional carver.

Bob

[squbrigg]

Tom, if you have the skill to build a bed, you can learn the simple skills it will take to carve the lettering you want. I wouldn't bother with power carving though, unless you intend to do a lot of carving with it later. You only need a few simple gouges or chizels to do lettering, so why not do it by hand. Either way....practice lots first. First with a softer wood, Basswood for example and then work up to the Oak. But..... practice in Oak before you start carving the bed, each wood carves differently. Study your grain, give yourself time and keep your tools sharp. I always found hand carved lettering superior to power carved ones.
Bob

[wade clark]

Tom,

I'm becoming the black sheep here, but...if you're incising the letters down into the wood, you could get it close to perfect with a router, then carve to finish the letters out. Lots of (if not nearly all) sign makers use a router. It's easy, effective, and you can set the depth.

If you just want the "hands on experience" do it all without power tools. I love my gouges and chisels and what they'll do!

If the finished product is the point, I'd sure prefer a router over a reciprocating power carver. As Bob said, a reciprocating carver "can be brutal to a finished piece if you're not careful"! I've got one and don't think it's that much faster than a gouge and mallet, and it requires a lot more "paying attention" than hand tools.

Have fun!
Wade

[TomHoffman]

Thanks Guys,

I will have to check on the size of the Fordom that I have.

The recip carver that I have been looking at is the Proxxon, German made, suppose to have lots of power. It is not too expensive, thought I would buy it and try it out and see if it would work.

I have thought about the router, had a guy around here that carved redwood signs around Christmas for years, he was so good that it was hard to tell that it was done with a router, as he used a very small one without a base, and got to the point that all the letters ended with fine sarifs and not rounded like most router made letters. He had years of experience, I have a small finish trim router, just been kind of scared using it free hand with out a base on it.

Any way, thanks for the help.....

[BobD]

I'm afraid the proxxon may be a bit small for oak--I've used mine on black cherry and really started heating up...In oak, you may be able to carve the bed, but it may be the end of the proxxon!

Bob

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

take a pine board and play around with the router, its not that hard, set the depth and remember to keep going in the proper direction....read you direction book that came with the router, I believe mine has something in it about signs.