light dutiesing 2

Some time ago I was approached by a client to make a replacement house sign for his daughters cottage.

The original 'Holly cottage' sign had black lettering which had been over painted at least once. It certainly looked a bit tired and was ready for replacement. The original sign was only 320mmx90mm with two very visible attachment points at about 310mm centres.

To get 12 letters and a space in less than 300mm length was a challenge. The letters had to be small to fit in the available length, but I considered elongating the letters to fill more of the width. I also thought about changing the arrangement of the two words again to fill more of the width. 

Having agreed a font with the client, I made paper mock ups of various options and again let the client choose which he preferred. The agreed design was transferred to the Oak board, all I had to do was carve the letters and finish the details of the project. 

 

 

 

Carving and finishing

I do not usually sit down to work at the bench, but the instructions post surgery were that I should not stand bent over for any length of time. The first few days I only managed to carve a couple of letters before having to stop. As time progressed and I got stronger, I was able to spend longer in the workshop and progress the project. It felt great to get back to work even though I was not able to work at my normal pace.

The carving progressed, with frequent breaks to rest and to visit the other side of the workshop to sharpen my carving tools. European Oak is much harder than American White oak so respect to earlier craftsmen who used the same material to make the lovely intricate carvings found in many historical buildings around the UK.

Once the lettering was completed, I cut a convex edge around the piece using a bearing cutter in my router, being careful to make several passes to avoid splitting or burning the end grain.

Delivered to Doncaster, on the way up to Durham, with a request that the client sends me a photo of the sign in position on his daughters Oak framed porch.