His Word In Wood

Click on the photo to go see this video on YouTube.  You can search for our other videos as well by searching for "His Word In Wood."  Click here to download the plan for this carving in PDF format.

Click on the photo to go see this video on YouTube.  You can search for our other videos as well by searching for "His Word In Wood."   Click here to download the plan for this carving in PDF format.

Our third video series “I Am His” is now available on YouTube!  I created this beautiful walnut carving as a celebration of the work the Holy Spirit has done in the life of Cleje Blackwell.  In the midst of her hopeless sin, the Lord told her, “I Love You!.”  As Cleje says… How can you not want to give your life to someone like that!  And now, her entire life is wrapped around bringing the hurting and hopeless to her Lord and Savior so that they too may be restored.  Although this is a woodworking video, you’ll get to hear Cleje tell her story in Part-8 of the series.

You can click on the picture above to go to the first segment of the series or you can search on YouTube for “His Word In Wood” and “I Am His”.  Be sure to include the quote marks or you’ll be buried in garbage.  Click here to download the plans for this project in PDF format.

The Reflections series of videos show the entire process of creating a carving in just a few minutes.  Every step is shown in short video clips woven together and set to relaxing music.  This series is about inspiration rather than instruction so there are no words.  Just sit back and enjoy the music while watching the project take shape.

“Shema Yisrael” is a pierced carving in rose colored cedar.  In pierced carvings, the design is cut all the way through the wood, in this case with a scroll saw.  Decorative edges are added with a router and a mirror is set into the back to reflect light.  Glass stains are applied to the mirror to resemble flames that complement the design.

The design itself uses highly stylized Hebrew characters in the shape of a fire, forming the words, “Shema Yisrael” or “Hear O Israel!” the first words of the incredible passage in Deuteronomy 6:4.

Sh’ma, Yisra’el! Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your might.  

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 
You shall teach them diligently to your children,
and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,
and when you walk by the way,
and when you lie down,
and when you rise.

Click Here to watch the video on YouTube

We begin by preparing a design in CorelDraw which gives a lot of control over details such as the spacing between characters.  That is important when using a rough device such as a router.  I especially love the design phase and I am constantly finding new inspiration for designs.  The finished design is printed out life size and a piece of wood is selected for the project.

The pattern is then traced onto the wood using "Graphite Image Tranfer Media".  Those of you who are old enough will know it as "carbon paper".  The fancy new name has a fancy price too.  Some places charge as much as $8 for a single sheet so you keep using it until it is worn out.  The pattern and carbon paper is held in place with a piece of packaging tape.  It is really amazing how long it takes to do this step.  I have tried other techniques to save time such as gluing the design onto the wood and then cutting through it.  However, the paper tends to fuzz which hides what's underneath making fine detail difficult.

A sharp pointed router bit is used to outline each character to about 5/16" deep.  The font we use for many of our plaques (Prose Antique) is difficult to cut because it has a lot of tight corners and fancy serifs but I love how it looks.  The carbide 15 deg v-groove router bit shown above costs $40 and will cut six to eight plaques like this before it needs to be sharpened.  I've tried sharpening it myself but... alas... no joy.  So I send the dull bits back to where I bought them and they touch them up on their diamond grinding wheel.

Once everything is outlined, I use a carbide 90-deg v-groove bit to remove the background.  This leaves what is called "outset" letters.  Notice that the v-groove router bit does not leave a smooth background.  If you run the bit in small circles, it leaves a very attractive pattern that looks like the inside of a geode.  When it is painted and covered with a gloss coat they shine like crystals. 

Once all the wood whiskers are removed with a sharp knife, the entire plaque is sprayed with black "Marsh Ink" which is like a quick drying spray paint. After it dries, I sand the top of the plaque to remove the black coating from the outset letters, graphic and border. Once it is dust-free, I put a gloss coat (lacquer) on it and then hand paint the raised portions with two coats of gold paint.

Although I strive for perfection in making these plaques, it is the imperfections that give them character and make them stand-out in a world of mass-produced precision.

The whole process is very time consuming. A plaque such as this one takes about 10 working hours to complete.  Yet it is also satisfying to take each project all the way from concept to completion.  It is also exciting to think of where these plaques may go and the impact they may have on people for years to come.

If this looks like fun, grab some tools and give it a try.  It's addictive!  My 7-year old grandson actually made a beautiful plaque for his teacher (with my hands guiding his for safety!).  Feel free to contact me by e-mail at Richard@HisWordInWood.com.

You-Tube is also an excellent place to learn crafts like this. Dave and Eric Rhoten run a sign shop in Arizona called "Dave's Signs" and have done a lot of YouTube videos on this. Search for OlDave100. They also sell stuff like router bits and instructional videos if you want to give it a try. They are really good folk and give great service.  GR8Info4U.com or on Facebook under "Dave's Signs."

I absolutely love this little Rigid Trim Router!  It is perfect for detail work and the front has a large opening which allows good visibility of the work area.  However, all routers are messy and fling sawdust everywhere.  I tried setting up an expensive dust collector behind the router but it was almost useless.  I finally cut a hole in the back of the finger guard and used JB-Weld to connect a hose from an old vacuum cleaner to my Shop-Vac.  What a difference!  It captures almost 100% of the sawdust.  As an added benefit, both the bit and the motor run much cooler due to the strong air flow. 

I also made a huge 8" base for the little Trim Router.  This is a big help when trying to cut out background in areas wider than the router's original base.  6" probably would have worked as well.

Notice also the magnifying light.  It's 5" lens is very good and it has a very bright ring of LED's around it.  It is a huge help for detail work.

A piece of non-skid matting under the carving keeps it in place most of the time without clamps.