Spring Time Sign Making - The Tradition Lives On

Once everyone figures out you have an X-Carve - they’ll all need signs - especially in the spring. Here are a couple of basic signs made from cedar. The lettering is raised for easy painting. The background is textured using V-Carve’s texturing function. I soak the cedar in sanding sealer after carving. Then, use latex paint (sometimes two coats), and then seal the whole thing with three or four coats of matte sealer. These seem to last.

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Nice signs. Do you paint the background by hand then the raised lettering or do you paint everything (maybe soak) and apply paint to the raised parts with a roller or sand down if wood color?

I spray paint the whole sign the background color. Then paint with a tiny brush, the raised lettering. On the blue signs, I primed them all white, taped off the edges, spray painted the center blue, then hand painted the raised letters. White primer and white interior latex primer match really well.

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Have you tried carving signs with PVC boards instead of Cedar? Home Depot carries a range of board sizes and it carves really nice and can even be painted, although it doesn’t need it for outdoor use.

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I haven’t. But it’s good to know.

Yup…
You’re right about this being “sign” season.:wink:

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I love that camper image. I’ve used it in a couple projects. Roasting sticks and a “Fairy House” for my daughter.

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Tried your technique last week and it turned out great. Unfortunately my CNC is on the fritz right now and I’m waiting for a call from customer support. I hope to be able to start using the CNC soon as I have a few more sings I want to make.

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Pretty cool! You can sand the raised lettering OR do a texture at a different angle as well. Good luck with your machine.

Interesting, I did not think of texture letters, thanks for the tip. Since I used rough cedar for effect so there is a texture on this anyhow.