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Hello from the middle of nowhere

K

kiamichi

New Member
greetings from the upper mountain fork river in southeast oklahoma! we live on property surrounded by the kiamichi mountains and the ouachita national forest. no walmarts, no starbucks - we don't even have 911! as many a stranded canoe-er has learned -"we are 911."

we have a fairly well-equipped woodworking shop and build stuff like outdoor furniture and wildlife habitats in our spare time. about 3 years ago, we started designing and fabricating carved cedar signs for a few friends with small businesses in the area (largely cabins/resort properties). over time, the demand has steadily increased and now we've reached the point where we need to become better-educated about the various processes and market for signage.

i am extremely impressed by Sign 101's resources. i knew our work was relatively primitive and we had much to learn - but after perusing this site and various forum threads today, i realize we are even bigger "hillbillies" than i imagined!!!!

a big :thankyou:, in advance, to all of you who participate in this arena of information exchange!

 
iSign

iSign

New Member
welcome aboard.
I'd love to see some of your carved cedar creations.
Are they hand carved, done with power tools, or even a mix of sandblasting etc?

While technology drives a lot of the advancements in production techniques, sheer creative craftsmanship is still at the root of the best ideas & I'd bet many of us are just as proud of some of the early creations we've made before becoming more automated.
 
jscarl

jscarl

New Member
Welcome from mid Michigan. I saw the whole frontof a store tore off and a rough sawn cedar board with routering and carving in it go back up. After staining and painting, it was very sharp. Is this the type of thing you do.?
 
K

kiamichi

New Member
iSign said:
welcome aboard.
I'd love to see some of your carved cedar creations.
Are they hand carved, done with power tools, or even a mix of sandblasting etc?

While technology drives a lot of the advancements in production techniques, sheer creative craftsmanship is still at the root of the best ideas & I'd bet many of us are just as proud of some of the early creations we've made before becoming more automated.
Click to expand...


well . . . i'm not kidding when i say primitive. i used to do my drawings on notebook paper, but i am proud to say i recently gradutated to GRAPH paper for easier re-scaling. then we plane, cut and, if needed, join the cedar boards. next, i visually transfer the caligraphy/art from my drawing to the wood and go over it with white paint. after that, the white imagery is carved out using a router / power chisel / dremel / whatever works for the design. then we band, sand, prime, paint and seal. we work in anywhere from 3/4'" to 2" thick stock depending on the size and application of the sign.

i'm just becoming acquainted with computer graphics and other technological tools. i was very excited today to learn that i too was able to make a DODGEBALL for Graphics2u in Word - amazing!!!!

i'll try to get some digital photos of our stuff to post. thanks very much for your interest and encouragement!
 
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