I "Carve Out" Independence, Satisfaction, and a Respectable Living

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After several years of making signs, I'm still using only three different tools—gouges—from the least expensive of the imported carving sets ($1.29 for 12 tools back when I bought mine). So there's obviously no need to spend a great deal of money on such equipment. Probably the most painless way to outfit yourself with gouges would be to buy a $6.95 X-ACTO carving set at the local art, hardware, or department store.

I don't get along well with power tools—and thus don't use them in my work—but there's no question that a Skilsaw or table saw, a router, and a sander would take much of the time and effort out of making signs. (You could still use hand tools to finish off a design, thus giving it that valuable hand-carved look.) If you have and plan to use such powered equipment, you might want to think more along the lines of a larger-scale business, something like the one described recently in this magazine by Robert Wade.

And a comment about paints: I recommend cadmium-based pigments, since they're bright and can be mixed together to yield a wide variety of hues.

THE WORK AREA

Once you've collected your supplies, all you need—besides a fairly solid table upon which to do the actual carving—is a work area . . . not shop, but area, located wherever you feel the most comfortable. I used to do all my carving in the living room, but I later moved to a spare bedroom so I wouldn't have to clean up after myself every day. (People who work with wood do tend to produce mountains of chips, splinters, and sawdust.)

During the summer, of course, you can move your whole operation onto the front porch: That's one of the "fringe benefits" of being a sign carver: You can make the chips fly either indoors or out, depending on the weather!

SIGN DESIGNS

Before you begin to carve, naturally, you'll need a design or pattern to guide you. I'm not much of a designer, so I end up "borrowing" a good many of my ideas from newspapers, magazines, and other printed media. You can do the same. Just keep your eyes open for simple, distinctive patterns . . . and before long, you'll have enough of them for a good century of sign carving.

Right now, though—unless you have something better in mind—you can simply start with the design for a rooster (Fig. 1) given to me by a friend.

Transfer the sketch to your pine board by placing a piece of carbon paper between the drawing and the wood (don't cut the plank just yet), centering the image, and tracing it onto the wood's surface. (If you're using a design that isn't the size you want it to be, you can scale the pattern up or down with the ruler and graph paper and then trace it onto the board.) Finally, draw a line across the piece of lumber (use the carpenter's square to make it nice and true) and saw along the mark to cut your "rooster-sized" chunk of raw stock from the rest of the plank.

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