Letter Carving Equipment

...folks I'm hopin' someone has exp[erience with this...I picked up a nice letter carving book the other day and they speak to using a chisel for cleaning the walls of the obliques...and i was wonderin' what would be better for this a single or double bevel chisel???

...advice anyone???

Thx,
Tony 8)

I suggest Chris Pye's book Lettercarving in Wood - A Practical Introduction. You can buy it from Amazon or many libraries have it. You can see the Table of Contents on his website, www.chrispye-woodcarving.com.
I hope this is helpful,
Jim

Jim,

Jim, (...false start)
Sorry I failed to mention the author of the book I had...it was in fact his book and he really doesn't specify which type of bevel he would prefer...the book itself is quite an informative one, it's just that i need a few more tools before i can start putting it into practice... :-/

[mdallensr]

I've seen a video on letter carving that showed a single bevel chisel, a wide one that looked like 1' or more. I use gouges to cut the curves, and narrower ones to clean out the transitions. I got the video at my library but don't recall the author.

[2leftfeet]

how about chip carving your letters....i use old english mt from microsoft word and transfer them to the object... i've done up to 2 inch letters this way...

stevo

Hey Tony,

I've done a bit of sign carving and lettering, and I'd suggest a single bevel chisel. I just find it easier to get into the corners and leave nice clean lines along the walls of the straight letters. But then, you can make any good edge work, just a good sharp jack-knife will do it, in a pinch, depending on the wood.

That raises another question, what kind of wood are you going to use?

Bob

Bob,
I went ahead and bought a single bevel chisel, and am just in the learning stages, I'll be testing with either pine or bass, and when it comes to the application I will most likely be incising letters into oak...Pye's book covers both incised and raised lettering and seems to cover the subjects well from layout to actual carving...thanks again for the information guys!! 8) I'll let you know how I make out.

Tony

Practice, practice, practice....best advice I can offer. Nice thing about carving letters/signs, is everyone loves to see their name carved in wood......so there is no end of variations. Try all three woods in scrap before you do a 'finished' carving, each carves differently and has their own problems to solve. Walnut and Butternut are also beautiful woods for sign carving/lettering. Have fun with it.

Bob

Rocket39;
You may not get a good test by testing with Basswood /Pine for final work in Oak...different bevels on chisel could be required for to achieve good results in Oak, I think Pye discusses these in one of his books, can't remember off the top which one though, soory. :