MY FIRST CARVED SIGN

Carved Cedar Signs 8"x24"

          I've always admired carved wooden signs but have never tried to do one professionally; if the trees are still standing from my boyhood days, there's a possibility that my initials and the girl I was in love with, which I carved into them at the time, may still be seen.  Other than that, occasionally whittling at a piece of wood while sitting around a camp-fire, I've never really carved anything.  My friend George Probst, who is a master craftsman, has carved many beautiful designs, especially into the furniture that he's built.  When I asked him to show me the techniques of carving, he was more than happy to do so.  Not being too confident that I could actually carve a sign properly that I'd designed for a fellow, George happily took the commission and did a wonderful job; it's so perfect, one would almost think it was done by a machine, other than a couple of simple carving tools, which incidentally, George had manufactured.  After he showed me how to carve the letter "B" on the bottom sign and I was to practise with the other letters, I decided, since we have a large dog, even though it's highly unlikely he would ever hurt anyone, I carved BEWARE of DOG.  For a first attempt, I am quite happy with the results and now am looking forward to advertise that I can carve signs and if it's too difficult, I'm sure George will take over the job.  I was going to paint the letters white but after staining the cedar boards, I've decided to leave the natural wood showing, especially since the grain is so beautiful.  However, realizing that before too long, being outside in the sun and rain every day, the bare wood will eventually turn grey, I'm going to give the letters 2 or 3 coats of UV protected varathane.

          One of the things that I really enjoyed while carving the sign, it's somewhat similar to what I'm feeling when I'm lettering a sign with a brush, is relaxation.  Automation and computerization has pretty much taken over the sign business today and since it's more like a hobby now, I've happily gone back to the old ways, when talent was more of a value.  I still use the computer, don't get me wrong; it's a wonderful tool.  However, for complete satisfaction for a job well done, I much prefer to use my own given talents and material wise, there is far less waste.  It would be great to get a couple of sign jobs for this coming winter because I think it would be great fun to spend a lot of time with George in his workshop listening to his stories and philosophies while whittling away on a piece of wood.  Somehow, even when I was a younger man, something appealed to me whenever I saw an old man carving and now that I am, I can see why it was so appealing - relaxing is certainly a wonderful way to pass time now - cheers, eh!