Timber Name boards

[castaway]

Has anyone tried routing out their own boat name on a timber board? I have tried to source templates but they are all way to small to be of any use. I guess all the commercial boys use CNC tooling to make this sort of thing now.

I was wondering it its feasable to buy vinyl graphics and apply them to the board and then free hand the router to the lettering?

Any experiences welcome..

Thanks Nick

 

[prv]

Freehand routering is generally not recommended because it's very difficult to keep control and avoid ruining the work - and in some cases damaging yourself too. However, your plan sounds like a relatively benign case so may be worth a go.

I'd suggest:

• Get plenty of practice on scrap first.
• Don't do it on your one-and-only large expensive piece of wood (or directly on the boat! )
• Don't try to cut too deep. The more wood you're removing, the harder the cutter will pull.
• Have a soft-start router.
• Unless you're cutting in the middle of a large board, nail some packing to the bench around it, the same thickness as the board, for the router to ride on when the cutter is close to the edge.
• Don't start on a line, start safely inside a letter and nudge carefully up to the line.
• Close-grained wood will probably behave more predictably.

Good luck

Pete

 

[Ruffles]

Nicer to carve it I reckon.

 

[rogerthebodger]

Have a look at one of these

http://www.amazon.com/Vermont-American-23450-Router-Pantograph/dp/B0000719WL

It comes with lots of letter templates and the pantograph allows for different sizes

 

[cliff]

Get yourself a router pantograph - you can print out your own fonts / lettering to copy. If you do not have a steady hand, stick the printed font / lettering to some card and cut out using a scalpel or similar to make a set of letter templates.

 

[Blueboatman]

Wot Cliff says.

I have carved my own before, ok in a slightly artisan way.

TIP. The Kerning ( Spacing between various letters) is important, though we take it for granted when typing using computer fonts. I would suggest therefore printing out full size and piecing together the A4 sheets full size with border, standing back and....

 

[rob2]

A few years ago we made a "scroll" from three pieces of wood and carved the boats name on it for the transom. We did consider using a router, but it's very dificult to control freehand and the carving was not too difficult if taken steadily and the tool kept sharp. If size permits, you could rout out the bulk and then carefully carve the edges...

Rob.

 

[yodave]

If you have an older grp boat - don't. Over time the wood will retain moisture against the hull - and you could end up with localised osmosis.

 

[eagleswing]

woodcarving101...

i own a router and a lot of other power tools and could not figure out how to do routing of a nameboard with out a lot of trouble and aggravation. one slip a nd your board is wrecked..


so i went the trad route. i have made a few boat nameboards using oldfashioned wood chisels. not hard to do, and very pleasing results..

--use a good wood like mahogany or cherry. oak will turn black with water exposure , and teak is really hard on the tools and too oily.

--get the name pattern by setting it up on a computer and enlarging the letters on a copy machine so you end up with ones sufficiently tall-mine were 2 inches at bow and 4 inches on s stern. or get a woodcarving book at the library , some of which have large size letters to copy for a pattern .

--once you have your letters for the name properly sized and spaced, tape the letters in place onto your board, then go around the edges of each letter with a tiny sharp nail and hammer. you are pounding little holes into the board with the nail, to outline the letters. each letter will be up to 1/2 inch wide.

--then get out a sharp chisel-- i found 1/2 inch width to be good. also spring for a ' v gouge tool ' which makes it easy to clean wood out of the center area of the letters.. and a rubber mallet to hit the end of the chisel or gouge with. (or onlookers who are giving you grief.)

--practice on a scrap of soft wood like pine, or get some light balsa or bass which is very easy to carve and will make a nice 'inside plaque..' basically you will hold your chisel at about 45 degree angle to the flat face of the wood and hit the end of the chisel with a mallet, which will peel off a nice thin strip of wood. you are aiming to make a v in the wood, following the dots made by your pattern. the deepest part of the v will be in the middle of your letter. i found the easiest to be to start a letter by placing the edge of the chisel on a section of the pattern line, aiming the chisel at a 45 degree angle towards the middle of what will be the letter...hold down your work board with clamps to keep it stable.

i found woodcarving to be very relaxing and harmonious, far better than throwing many $$ on vinyl letters...after making my boat boards i made a few house signs and house numbers etc..

there are some really good books on woodcarving by hand, any of them will get you set up right .

on my boats i fasten the nameboards with stainless bolts topped with capnuts, and put plastic grommets to hold the nameboard wood off the wood of the boat. this will avoid the localized osmosis another poster warned about.

--if you have a curved surface for a bow 'trailing board' , you can bend wood to a curve by steaming it in a dishwasher after you've carved it. that's getting a little complicated...

fair winds and good carvings to you.

 

[Poignard]

I have always fancied having cast brass nameboards, as seen on locomotives. But I expect they would cost a fortune.

Anyway, this 'wish' is at the bottom of page 5 of my worklist

 

[northwind]

+1 to carving

This book is very good, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lettercarving-Wood-Practical-Chris-Pye/dp/1861080433/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320308935&sr=1-1

And Axminster sell carving chisels, far more controlled than a freehand router.

 

[PCUK]

I use the router a lot but never thought of getting one of those pantographs. Having just watched the video on Cliff's posting I'll be ordering one of those in the next five minutes!

 

[PCUK]

Now ordered! I used to carve names freehand using a Dremel which was quite easy to control and the results were OK but I'm really looking forward to having a go with this pantograph.