Letter carving help please.

Re: Letter carving help please.

Tom Scott

>Chris Pye's "Letter Carving in Wood" was recommended to me a few months ago when I asked the same question. As far as I can tell it is the standard. Lots of step-by-step instructions, but not really a book of fonts.

I got this along with Nora Hall's Letter Carving video. She takes a completely different approach, though. I ended up using a combination of their 2 techniques (see fireplace box below for my first attempt).

The tool requirements are minimal, and I found out it's not really that hard to do. As with all things, you get better and faster as you do more.

Good luck,

Tom

Re: Letter carving help please.

Chris Knight

>I would second the recommendation for Chris Pye's book. I took a short course with him (didn't actually spend a lot of time lettering though) so it was natural for me to buy his book to build on what we did cover.

I have since done a fair bit of lettering and am pleased with the results - I would say his writing is clear, easy to follow and very effective! There are also plenty of pictures which help a lot as one goes along.

Re: Letter carving help please.

paul womack

>letter carving in particular

Having spoken to various carvers (and monumental masons) over the years, I am given to understand that letter carving and "normal" carving are almost unrelated skills.

BugBear

Re: Letter carving help please.

Gabe Doyle

>Thanks for the replies. Amazon has Chris Pye's book pretty cheap too, so I guess that's where I'll start.

Gabe

Re: Letter carving help please.

Tony - Memphis

>Taunton had a video out that contains some letter carving. Also, I think the DVD magazine Woodworking at Home had a video/article (not sure what to call it!) that looked real good. Worth getting the back issue.

We stayed at a B&B in Nashville one time and the owner had done some real nice lettering. he said that he found an article that described how to letter with a good old box knife. Never have found it, but something to look for maybe. Godd luck with it.

Tony

Recent thread may help *LINK*

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

>Click here:


Letter Carving Thread

Re: Letter carving help please.

Clay Home

>I find that with carving, like turning, I learn a lot by watching someone do it right. I have a video here called 'Carving Techniques and Projects - Bush/Headley,' of which the first half is dedicated solely to letter carving. I'd be happy to mail-loan it to you (or at least give you more info on the title), but I borrowed it myself from the local WW guild library (and that's the only label it still has), so I'd better not ... But, I do think it was worthwhile. Been a while since I watched it, but IIRC it is a Taunton press item.

Clay (who saw a bookcase last week, carved with a short inscription on top, going for a price that'd make your ears bleed)

Re: Letter carving help please.

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Yes, great video and very helpful approach. First half is Mack Headley doing a Newport shell, second half is Sam Bush doing letter carving. Also, the Nora Hall videos are very good. Add the courage to start and you'll be fine.

Pam