Signs?

[Alice in Wonderland]

signs with lettering, why are the letters carved in? why no raised? is it harder to do or does it not look right? I have been toying with this for a while because I do want to make a sign and can't make up my mind about this.
Thanks for your input
Alice

[papasar]

Alice,
It is a heck of a lot faster to incise the letters than to have them raised. You don't have to do all the grounding or lowering of the background. A carver in this neck of the woods who has done about every "Welcome to the town of" sign within 100 miles uses mainly a mill knife to incise the letters and works about as fast as using a router. He has a popular sign carving book on the market. Commercially that's the way to go. For yourself its your choice.
Bill K.

[squbrigg]

I've done signs with raised letters, and while they are more work, they can be more pleasing to the eye, depending on what the design is like. There are also several types of carved raised letters, as well as the many assorted styles of lettering.

Bob

[AlArchie]

I've done a "MERRY CHRISTMAS" banner with raised letters and it turned out fine, but like was mentioned, it took a lot of stock removal to raise the letters whereas incising them would have only required removal of the stock inside the lettters. Why did I do it that way???? I think it actually takes less skill to raise the letters, and that's where my skill level lay!

Al

[rales]

Alice,

Doing raised letters is more labor intensive and might require some additional tools (short bent #2 skews and fishtails are great) to clean up the smaller areas. Routers will help in removing the majority of the background but be careful not to get too straight an edge on your letters - otherwise they will look like they are glued on and not carved. You also need to consider the font weight and the wood you are working with - skinny ones won't do

peace, rales

[AlArchie]

Well, so much for raised lettering requiring a lower skill level! WOW, Rales, those are magnificent!

Al

[rales]

Thanks Al...

The inside black area on The Shannon Rose is actually incised - so it's a really a combo of the two styles... I will always offer a client the choice of a recessed background in the preliminary designs - it really does add to the dimensional aspect of the finished piece. I charge about 25-30% more for raised design than for an incised design - so that should give you an idea of the labor difference.

[Ron T]

Hi Rales,

Those are terrific signs. The lettering looks beautiful.

[twilli227]

Sorry to hijack this thread, but Rales, I just looked at your two sites. Beautiful work, I am impressed.

Todd

[Alice in Wonderland]

Thanks all for your help and comments I really appreciate this,
Rales your work is just wonderful and impressive.
you are also a great photographer going buy your picture in your album
I can see I have my work staked out for me ,because I do like the raised letters better.
Again Thank you
Alice