My father asked me this question, and I didn't have much in the way of
advice. He's retired, which means he's perpetually looking for something to
do. Unfortunately, he's 150 miles away, or I could give him plenty to do.
One of his little projects is making outdoor signs. The signs are meant to
go over an entrance to your property, typically where your lane meets the
road (mostly country folk would have such a thing). He makes them out of
hedge (osage orange). Typically, he starts with a log roughly 10 feet long
and 8 inches in diameter. Where the name will go, he uses a chain saw and
cuts either side of the log to reduce the width to about 3 inches. He gets
to this part OK. Where he is having trouble is in making the name. What he
has been doing is using a spade bid of the proper size, drilling several
holes to make the letters, then clearing out the waste. Apparently, this is
hard on the drills, not to mention the bit. He blew up one drill doing it,
then bought (as he put it) the best Dewalt corded drill, which proceeded to
twist the shaft of the spade bit. He asked me if a router would help and I
said that we might be able to work with a router with a spiral upcut. We
may try it when I go down to visit later this month, but I'm open to any
other suggestions re: better bits (Forstner maybe?) or better methods. I
think a drill press would be tricky with a piece this large.
todd
nice try, but your address gave you away. Not very clever you are.
BRuce (the real one)
BRuce wrote:
> "todd" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>
>>My father asked me this question, and I didn't have much in the way of
>>advice. He's retired, which means he's perpetually looking for something to
>>do. Unfortunately, he's 150 miles away, or I could give him plenty to do.
>>One of his little projects is making outdoor signs. The signs are meant to
>>go over an entrance to your property, typically where your lane meets the
>>road (mostly country folk would have such a thing). He makes them out of
>>hedge (osage orange). Typically, he starts with a log roughly 10 feet long
>>and 8 inches in diameter. Where the name will go, he uses a chain saw and
>>cuts either side of the log to reduce the width to about 3 inches. He gets
>>to this part OK. Where he is having trouble is in making the name. What he
>>has been doing is using a spade bid of the proper size, drilling several
>>holes to make the letters, then clearing out the waste. Apparently, this is
>>hard on the drills, not to mention the bit. He blew up one drill doing it,
>>then bought (as he put it) the best Dewalt corded drill, which proceeded to
>>twist the shaft of the spade bit. He asked me if a router would help and I
>>said that we might be able to work with a router with a spiral upcut. We
>>may try it when I go down to visit later this month, but I'm open to any
>>other suggestions re: better bits (Forstner maybe?) or better methods. I
>>think a drill press would be tricky with a piece this large.
>>
>>todd
>
>
> You didn't have to give us the old Geezer's life story. Please,
> regulars! Let us try to get this group back on topic and leave the
> gravy out! Like anyone is interested in your Dad's personal life.
I wonder if a rotary saw (ie Rotozip)would work. They might have a bit for
just such a thing. Don't know if they'll hold up though. Osage (or
Hedgeapple in Ohio) Is mighty hard stuff. I've made sparks fly off the
chainsaw before. I say use the osage for firewood and make the signs out of
softer wood.
Kevin
"todd" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> My father asked me this question, and I didn't have much in the way of
> advice. He's retired, which means he's perpetually looking for something
to
> do. Unfortunately, he's 150 miles away, or I could give him plenty to do.
> One of his little projects is making outdoor signs. The signs are meant
to
> go over an entrance to your property, typically where your lane meets the
> road (mostly country folk would have such a thing). He makes them out of
> hedge (osage orange). Typically, he starts with a log roughly 10 feet
long
> and 8 inches in diameter. Where the name will go, he uses a chain saw and
> cuts either side of the log to reduce the width to about 3 inches. He
gets
> to this part OK. Where he is having trouble is in making the name. What
he
> has been doing is using a spade bid of the proper size, drilling several
> holes to make the letters, then clearing out the waste. Apparently, this
is
> hard on the drills, not to mention the bit. He blew up one drill doing
it,
> then bought (as he put it) the best Dewalt corded drill, which proceeded
to
> twist the shaft of the spade bit. He asked me if a router would help and
I
> said that we might be able to work with a router with a spiral upcut. We
> may try it when I go down to visit later this month, but I'm open to any
> other suggestions re: better bits (Forstner maybe?) or better methods. I
> think a drill press would be tricky with a piece this large.
>
> todd
>
>
For production, look at a big router, a guide bush and letter
stencils.
For quick hacking, a Roman or Engraver font (originally designed to be
chiselled) and an Arbortech (disk in an angle grinder) will work, but
it's quite skill dependent. Arbortechs are _not_ the same as those
evil chainsaw circlets. They also do a carbide tipped version, that
might be useful for osage orange.
--
Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods
"todd" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> My father asked me this question, and I didn't have much in the way of
> advice. He's retired, which means he's perpetually looking for something to
> do. Unfortunately, he's 150 miles away, or I could give him plenty to do.
> One of his little projects is making outdoor signs. The signs are meant to
> go over an entrance to your property, typically where your lane meets the
> road (mostly country folk would have such a thing). He makes them out of
> hedge (osage orange). Typically, he starts with a log roughly 10 feet long
> and 8 inches in diameter. Where the name will go, he uses a chain saw and
> cuts either side of the log to reduce the width to about 3 inches. He gets
> to this part OK. Where he is having trouble is in making the name. What he
> has been doing is using a spade bid of the proper size, drilling several
> holes to make the letters, then clearing out the waste. Apparently, this is
> hard on the drills, not to mention the bit. He blew up one drill doing it,
> then bought (as he put it) the best Dewalt corded drill, which proceeded to
> twist the shaft of the spade bit. He asked me if a router would help and I
> said that we might be able to work with a router with a spiral upcut. We
> may try it when I go down to visit later this month, but I'm open to any
> other suggestions re: better bits (Forstner maybe?) or better methods. I
> think a drill press would be tricky with a piece this large.
>
> todd
You didn't have to give us the old Geezer's life story. Please,
regulars! Let us try to get this group back on topic and leave the
gravy out! Like anyone is interested in your Dad's personal life.
"todd" writes:
> My father asked me this question, and I didn't have much in the way of
> advice. He's retired, which means he's perpetually looking for something
to
> do. Unfortunately, he's 150 miles away, or I could give him plenty to do.
> One of his little projects is making outdoor signs. The signs are meant
to
> go over an entrance to your property, typically where your lane meets the
> road (mostly country folk would have such a thing). He makes them out of
> hedge (osage orange). Typically, he starts with a log roughly 10 feet
long
> and 8 inches in diameter. Where the name will go, he uses a chain saw and
> cuts either side of the log to reduce the width to about 3 inches. He
gets
> to this part OK. Where he is having trouble is in making the name. What
he
> has been doing is using a spade bid of the proper size, drilling several
> holes to make the letters, then clearing out the waste. Apparently, this
is
> hard on the drills, not to mention the bit. He blew up one drill doing
it,
> then bought (as he put it) the best Dewalt corded drill, which proceeded
to
> twist the shaft of the spade bit. He asked me if a router would help and
I
> said that we might be able to work with a router with a spiral upcut. We
> may try it when I go down to visit later this month, but I'm open to any
> other suggestions re: better bits (Forstner maybe?) or better methods. I
> think a drill press would be tricky with a piece this large.
This job begs to be set up with fixtures, definitely not hand work.
A drill press would work but be difficult to position the log properly.
An alternate would be a steel table and a magnetic base, portable drill
press. Definitely not a low cost approach; however, it would be easier to
locate this unit on the steel table.
HTH
--
Lew
S/A: Challenge, The Bullet Proof Boat, (Under Construction in the Southland)
Visit: <http://home.earthlink.net/~lewhodgett> for Pictures
todd wrote:
> One of his little projects is making outdoor signs. [...] He makes them out of
> hedge (osage orange).
I'm not familiar with it but it is allegedly a very dense hardwood. In
my experience the typical wood sign is made out of a softer wood such as
pine or cedar.
What I'd do is ask folks who sell these signs how they make them; there
are plenty out there, and they even seem to have ways of doing it with
detailed, professional sign fonts.