A Quick Shop Sign – SketchUp to Carving
Tim Killen decided to make a Shop Sign, one that could also serve as a company logo. With a combination of SketchUp, an image transfer process, carving tools, and lampblack & shellac, I developed a sign that will work
Recently I decided to make a Shop Sign, one that could also serve as a company logo. With a combination of SketchUp, an image transfer process, carving tools, and lampblack & shellac, I developed a sign that will work.
I created a Playlist of four videos showing each of these processes including the carving and finishing. But it all starts with the design in SketchUp.
In SketchUp I used one of my chair models as a logo. I “painted” the model black with one click, so it prints the toner showing the whole chair silhouette. Here is the output from SketchUp, a “flipped” view of the design on 8 1/2 x 11 paper. This is ready to transfer to the basswood plank for carving.
And here is a photo of the finished sign on the workbench. The lampblack fills the carving, and is mostly removed with sandpaper from the un-carved face of the basswood. I used shellac to stick the lampblack and finish the face of the sign.
Tim
Videos by Mark Olesko
Fine Woodworking Recommended Products
Estwing Dead-Blow Mallet
Jorgensen 6 inch Bar Clamp Set, 4 Pack
Starrett 12-in. combination square
Comments
Tim's SketchUp sign-making technique would also serve to drive a CNC machine to handle the carving. Or, if you want hand-carved letters, you could transfer the logo to the wood, but as outlines instead of solid black shapes. Then read this FWW article to learn how to carve letters:
https://www.finewoodworking.com/2006/10/15/letter-carving-basics
Best
dh
do you have a copy of the old (free) make program, the one on there site now is web only and the make version is a trail (30 day) of the Pro version.
thx
Jim
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