Church cottage

 Design and setting out

I have been asked to make a house sign for one of our neighbours who lives in one of the traditional cottages across the road from the church, Not surprising it is known as church cottage.

The sign was to be located under a porch/canopy on the lintel over the front door, so weather protection was not going to be a major issue.

Having got the dimensions for the board, I drew out three different fonts for client approval, the proportions of the sign were quite difficult, the height being greater than I would have liked relative to the length available, which in turn led to some distortion of the lettering.

Much to my surprise the client chose a relatively modern font and as can be seen in the images, the projection of the tail of the g helped with the layout.

The chosen font was transferred from the drawing using carbon paper, on to a piece of European oak, this grows more slowly than its American equivalent and as such better withstands outdoor conditions. 

 

                

 

 

 Cutting out and finishing

Once the design was transferred to the timber, it was cut out using a small router and a 3 flute (3 blade) router engraving tool.

Router cutters vary considerably. The majority I use are 2 bladed and although the blade spins at 32000rpm you can still get a slightly roughened finish particularly across end grain. Using the 3 flute engraving tool lessens this problem.

The depth stop on the router was set to 3mm. Starting the cut with the point of the tool just touching the surface, then gradually sinking the blade in to the work piece to give a gradual increase in both width and depth of cut. Towards the end of each letter the process was reversed to give a clean finish to each character.

 

Having cut out all the letters the edge finish was produced, again using the router but with a 45 degree chamfer bearing cutter. The bearing running along the edge of the work piece to make a lovely regular chamfer on the front surface.

The sign was then sanded and oiled repeatedly to give a water resistant finish that could be easily topped up as required, prior to delivery to the client.