The art of lettering is a popular form ofcarving, due to its infinite applica-tions.

Names or house signs carved in woodcan make treasured gifts, while poemsand favourite catch-phrases can be docu-mented in a way that will survive the cen-turies. You can use lettering to initial ordate pieces of your woodworking orincorporate personal details into yourown logo.

Letter carving is relatively quick andsimple. However, as with all projects, thecarving is a direct representation of thedrawing. Therefore, a great deal of impor-tance must be placed on marking out theletters correctly before starting to carve.

Prior to the days of computers, the artof lettering required a sound knowledgeof the principles of signwriting. However,the computer has made things much easi-er, offering a vast selection of fonts thatcan be manipulated to any requirement inseconds. That said, it is worth becomingfamiliar with a signwriter’s considera-tions, so that you can make informeddecisions when taking the shortcuts.

Style There are many styles of lettering to

choose from — some plain, some fancyand many in between.

It is important to make sure that thestyle suits the application. For example, ahouse sign will need to be clear for peo-ple driving by. Therefore a plain stylewould be the most appropriate.

Another point to consider is whether

individual letters are recognisable. Initial-ly, this may seem a strange consideration,but it is a valid point for certain styles. InPhoto.2, you will see an old English letter‘J’. It could be mistaken for a letter ‘T’ orthe letter ‘I’. This style of lettering couldlead to confusion when used for initialsbefore the surname.

SubstrateThought should be given to the choice

of timber into which you plan to carve theletters. A highly figured piece of timber islikely to distract the eye from the lettering.Find a substrate that will complement theapplication and the design.

Spacing and DefinitionIf you break down words into the num-

ber of letters and then mark out equallyproportioned boxes for each, you are like-ly to have a problem. The result when theletters are positioned will probably beirregular and non-flowing — quite unat-tractive. This is because few letters are ofexactly the same proportions. For in-stance, compare the letters I and M.

The solution is to draw the letters freehand and space them to appear visuallycorrect 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 beestablished and maintained throughoutthe sign, unless of course you wish for let-ters of varying height to be part of thedesign.

Standardising the height of letters canbe regulated by drawing three parallellines onto the timber. A common scalehas the lower case letters one third small-er than the upper ones, although theexample shown in Photo.1 uses lowercase letters that are just over half the sizeof the upper case.

Inevitably aesthetics play a key role.Ensure that the spacing between the linesof words is equal and that the distancebetween words is sufficient to avoid over-crowding .

Note that it is possible to give promi-nence to certain words by carving themlarger than others.

Photo.2: Choice of styles is important ifyou want the letters to be recognisable.This is an old English ‘J’

Fig.1: Tool profiles used in this series

NUMBERSPt.6 — Letter Carvingby Mike Davies

Woodcarving By

Photo.1: Lettering is a popular form ofcarving

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Regulating the Letter FormStudy the examples of letter styles in

Photo.3. Note that each letter is formedwith a combination of thin and thicklines. This adds interest to your carving.However, you need to regulate the thick-nesses throughout your text. For example,you could set the thin lines at 2mm andthe thick lines at 5mm. Whatever yourdecision, it will be important to adhere tothese guidelines from start to finish.

When carving incised letters (Photo.1),note that the wider the line is drawn, thedeeper the cut is carved.

When carving letters in relief, thewider components are higher (Photo.13).This is explained and illustrated in greaterdetail as we progress.

Angle of Letters The letters in a word can be slanted

slightly if desired. If you do incorporate aslant, set the desired angle and ensure thatthis angle is maintained throughout theword.

Position of Words When marking out words, remember

to consider their position in relation to theborders of the sign itself. You don’t wantto space the letters beautifully, only tohave them form words which are off cen-tre on the workpiece.

AccuracyWhen you mark out your letters, en-

sure that the lines of each letter are cleanand crisp, with clearly defined edges. Ifthe drawing is unclear, then the carving isalmost guaranteed to be the same.

ReferenceIt 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 letterfonts.

Take photographs of interesting signsand study the layout and proportions.

Transferring the LetteringOne way to mark out your lettering

and speed up the process is to print your

words or sentences from a computer. Usedouble-sided carpet tape to stick thedesign to your timber and then simplycarve through the paper into the timberbelow (Photo.4).

Basics of CarvingThis series is

based on the sixcarving techniquespresented in the firstinstalment in AWW#170 August 2013.It also utilises thebasic set of carvingtools set out inFig.1.

You can reviewthe Significant SixWoodcarving Techniques video on yoursmartphone by scanning the QR code(Significant Six QR Code) on this page.Alternatively, type in ‘Record PowerSignificant Six Techniques with MikeDavies’ into your Internet search engineto view the video on your computer.

Incised LettersIncised letter carving is a relatively

quick and easy method, which is there-fore ideal for the beginner to tackle first.

The level of difficulty will vary with thestyle of font and the combination ofstraight into curved lines. It may be wiseto choose a simple style to begin with andmove towards more ornate styles as your

skills develop.At the top and bottom of letters within

certain fonts, you will notice an ornateflick. These flicks are known as serifs.Photo.5 shows two serifs at the bottom ofthe letter R, each of which was formed bymaking three cuts to carve an invertedpyramid shape.

The Letter AWe’ll carve our first letter by starting

with the letter A. Mark out the letter ontothe timber.

Use the flat edge of tool #11 (Fig.1) tomake the first incision (Photo.6). Theedges of the letter should be angledtowards each other at around 45° to forma V-shaped cross-section.

Ensure that you achieve clean, straightlines as you form the walls of the letter A.It is important that the base or bottom lineof the V is centred between the upperlines.

If you wish you can begin the valleysusing tool #8, but always finish with thestraight edge of tool #11 to ensure cleanlines, especially on the surface of the tim-ber.

In Photo.7 the letter A has been partlycarved. Note that the depth of cuts form-ing the 45° valley must be less for thinnerlines, ie. where the parallel lines markingout the letter are spaced closer together.

Photo.3: Different letter styles formedwith thick and thin lines

Photo.5: The inverted pyramid shape ofa serif is created by making three cuts

Photo.6: Making the first incision on theletter A

Photo.4: Using computer printouts anddouble-sided tape for marking out

Significant Six QR Code

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Use tool #1 to create an inverted pyra-mid effect for the serifs at the point wherethe valleys meet.

Wrap fine sandpaper around a sandingblock to remove any pencil marks left onthe surface of the timber (Photo.8). Thiswill also help to highlight any wanderinglines that need to be cleaned up.

The next step is to carve a letter thatincorporates curves. The letter R is anideal choice. Note in Photo.9 how thecurve varies in thickness from wide tonarrow. The thickness of the line alsorelates to the depth of the incised V.Remember that the centre line of the Vshould remain centred between the lineson the surface.

The real test is to carve the letter S(Photo.10). Form the curved lines usingthe various profiles in your tool kit.

Note that it is not necessary to have theexact radius or ‘sweep’ of gouge to meetthe shape of your letter. You can changethe radius that the carving tool producesby using the tip of the gouge and slidingthe tool to vary the cut.

Relief LettersWhen carving any style of letter in

relief, a flat chisel (tool #11) is a usefulpart of your toolkit. For your first attemptsand to help build confidence, it is a goodidea to choose a plain letter style.

However, to demonstrate both thebasics and some more advanced tech-

niques in relief letter carving, I have cho-sen an old English style of lettering(Photo.11). This is considered a challeng-ing font as each letter is decorated withfine details, around which the back-ground must be reduced (ie. the thicknessof the timber is reduced to make the letterstand out in relief).

Mark out the profile of the letter on thesurface of the timber. It may help to shadethe letter to make its shape clearer (Pho-to.11). The next stage is to reduce thebackground to distinguish the letter. Thiscan be done by hand, but it is handy touse a router set to a fixed depth to removemost of the waste. It is important to formthe walls of the letter at 90° to the surfaceof the reduced timber. This will ensurethat the edges do not change shape asthey are carved lower (Photo.12).

Just as with incised letters, where thevalley depth varies in accordance withthe width of the outer lines, the same prin-ciple applies in relief lettering. Instead ofa valley line, you need to create a highridge line. The ridge should be lower asthe line (distance between the outer lines)becomes thinner.

Once again, it is important to ensurethat the ridge line is central to its outeredges. If the line is curved, carve a con-cave profile on the concave side and viceversa for the convex side, as illustrated inPhoto.13.

In the finished letter, note how extra‘depth’ can be added to your carving byallowing components to overlap others.An example of this is evident halfwayaround the crescent shape of the C sec-tion.

In this instance the reduced surfacehas been stamped to help define thecarved letter from the background. This isespecially effective when stains are usedbecause the stain sits in the recesses of the

Photo.8: The completed A

Photo.9: The completed letter R involvescarving a curve

Photo.10: The letter S presents achallenge

Photo.12: At this stage the walls of theletter are at 90° to the surface exceptwhere the relief carving work has com-menced in the upper left hand area

Photo.13: The finished letter in reliefcarving

Photo.11: This old English font provides amore challenging pattern for carving

Photo.7: The letter A partially carved

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stamped area, highlighting the letter. To make this form of stamp, you can

simply file a series of V-shaped groovesinto a steel bar using a fine triangularshaped file. Then file a series of grooves at90° to the first set to form a series of point-ed pyramids (Photo.14).

For more information on the RecordPower Carving Tool and DVD set used inthis series, scan the QR Code on this pagewith your Smartphone or type ‘Record Power Woodcarving byNumbers’ into your Internet search engine to view the video onyour computer.

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

QR Code CarvingPromo YouTube

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