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Well after much nagging from Liz (my wife) I have finally got around to doing our new house sign, OK yes I know we've been here nearly 2 years, so when we moved in I found a nice slab of slate propped up behind the shed and have been moving it from one place to the other ever since, finally this week decided to start, having NEVER carved wood before never mind slate I took a bit of advice from a mate who suggested I start by V carving with a router then finish with chisels, well this is just starting the hand carving bit, boy did the routing make a mess, so when I've done this bit I will be polishing the face then finally gilding the inlay and the that will be it just have to find somewhere to put it then.
finished cutting and the faces have been wet and dry sanded with 600 grit
after having been sized
Finished
-------------------- Steve Broughton Alpha Grafix Signs Lowfields Road Benington, Boston Lincolnshire, England Posts: 315 | From: Boston, Lincolnshire, England | Registered: Aug 2001
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VERY nice! And, yes, carving slate can be very messy with all the slate dust!!! But the results are certainly worth it! Nice letter style, too. Cat
-------------------- Catharine C. Kennedy CCK Graphics 1511 Route 28 Chatham Center, NY 12184 cck1620@taconic.net "Look at me, Look at me, Look at me now! I't's fun to have fun, But you have to know how!" Posts: 2173 | From: downtown Chatham Center, NY | Registered: Feb 2004
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Congratulations! Reminds me of my first slate carving which was also for our home.
Sure is slow & messy... 3 characters were enough for me.
-------------------- Frank Smith Frank Smith Signs Albany, NY www.franksmithsigns.com Posts: 807 | From: Albany, NY USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Lovely jubbly, Steve. Better not drop that while you're trying to install it! Looks very classy. Love.....Jill
Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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Well done for persevering! I tried your way- using a router first- and that's the only time I did it that way- the angle was too steep to gild easily, and it was in my opinion unnecessarily steep. Poking gold down to the bottom was hard. Waiting for size to dry in that thicker groove you get in the bottom was also hard- the rest of the size dries, and the bottom is still wet!
I've done a few since then, and have learned that a 'kiss join' is best for ease of carving, i.e. where the crossbar or the e joins the main curve, and say, the loop of the a, and the centre horizontal bit of the B- make the line taper out up to the surface, and just barely touch the next bit rather than a full Tee join.
Also, script fonts are frequently much easier!
Some slate carves easily, and some is as hard as rock!
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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Cheers Ian fancy posting some pics of yours so I can see what you mean?, I know what you mean about the deep V's I had thought about a shallower angled bit? everyone else thanks for the kind words.
-------------------- Steve Broughton Alpha Grafix Signs Lowfields Road Benington, Boston Lincolnshire, England Posts: 315 | From: Boston, Lincolnshire, England | Registered: Aug 2001
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