[Woodcarver] Carving letters in oak boards

Steve Klein stevenfklein at sbcglobal.net
Fri May 16 17:43:26 EDT 2008


Hi Ron,
I bought a bit from Ray and it works well. You wrote that Ray used
to sell. Doesn't he sell them anymore? His bit does fit into a
roto-zip. I have used it in mine.

Steve


Ramsey wrote:

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> Carving letters with a router is not difficult if you use the right

> bit and have your router set up for it. The trick is to use a tapered

> spiral bit with a small tip. This allows for more control. A flat

> bottom bit wants to go all over the place. Use it only for wasting

> excess wood. The bit is available as a tapered end mill from Travers

> Tool Co. I use the 5% taper with a 3/32 tip. (This is the bit Ray

> Kinman used to sell) I also use a fixed base router because of the

> low center of gravity makes it easier to control. I cut out the front

> of the router base for better visibility and replace the plastic

> bottom surface with Teflon for smoother action. A router has two

> handles and the Roto-Zip doesn't. It's also underpowered for cutting

> letters in oak. On routed in letters, travel in a counter clockwise

> direction. On raised letters travel in a clockwise direction.

> Practice first on a scrap. If you have a hard time following the line

> exactly, route a 1/6" inch or so away from the line and trim the

> excess with a skew.




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