How to put Font on wood?

[agooday88]

I am making a cross and I want to put some words on it. Either a few big ones or a lot of small ones. I have tried using stencils but they are messy. I then bought some word stickers that have saying on them, but I would like to make my own saying. Is there a way to put letters on wood. I would like it to be flush with the surface and not stick out above the surface of the wood. Is there a way? Thank you for your responses.

[Rapid Roger]

Yes, there is..... And to answer your other question about the centers of "A" and "O" and "R" s falling out, I'll post a picture or two.

To do inlay of one wood into another, you have to tilt the table (or saw head in some cases) to a small degree so that the letters fit into the exact holes and can be sanded flush. The exact degree will depend on the thickness of the wood and the thickness of the saw kurf  (the width of cut that the blade makes when it cuts the wood). The answer to your next question is....Ya just gotta practice!
Use the exact thickness of wood that the piece will be made from and the same blade style and stack the pieces together, tilt the table to around 3 degrees to start with and cut a small (1") circle. Check to see if the inside of the top piece will fall through the hole in the lower piece. If it falls through, you need to add about 1/2 degree to (3-1/2degrees) to the table. If it doesn't want to go but just a short ways into the hole, you will have to subtract a 1/2 degree (2-1/2 degrees). You just need to keep cutting holes and trying various angles on the table until you get the "plug" to fit into the hole. Even then it probably won't fit exactly but if the plug is 1/16" or less proud of the surface it can be sanded down until it is flush. The back side will be UGLY but, don't worry about that.
There are a few video's around the net to show you what I mean.
As to the letter problem...Here is a picture that shows how I used a font and made my own bridges to be used on some box lids.







I hopes that helps explain what I was trying to tell you a bit better. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Rog

[agooday88]

Wow.. that was nice of you to go into so much detail on your answer. I appreciate that. I understand how to do it now. Thank u! I can't wait to try it.

[Rapid Roger]

You are quite welcome.
That is why I (and most others) are here, to help when we can.
I tend to be a bit "wordy" and post too many pictures but, as I said a picture makes things so much easier to understand.

I did forget to mention one other thing. When you tilt the table one way or the other (left or right, it doesn't really matter) you want to keep the letter on the lower side of the blade. If the left side of the table is lower than the right, you will want to keep the letter on the left side of the blade to make the letter larger than the background hole in the lower surface. AND you MUST cut the entire letter in the same direction all around. It sometimes looks like the letter is on the right side of the blade when you are making interior cuts but, remember the letter is larger than the background even then.
Hope that helps too.
Just practice a few times (NOBODY does it perfectly the first six times  ) and you will have a BUNCH of fun and make some beautiful items down the road. As I often say, "I'll do anything twice." 

Rog

[EIEIO]

Roger - very nice work on those boxes.

About setting the tilt angle to get the letters to drop in flush - there is an equation you can use as a first pass. You can vary a little if the result is not what you wanted. If you know the kerf "K" of the blade (look at Mike's web site - http://www.mikesworkshop.com/blades.htm - the blade thickness is very close to the kerf for the scroll saw) and you know how far you want the inlay to drop "D" (usually the thickness of the inlay to get it to lay flush, but there may be other considerations such as simulating relief carving or forming a self-frame), then set the table angle to
    Angle = Arcsin(K/D).
Arcsin is the same as Inverse Sin on the Windows calculator. Remember to set the calculator to Degrees (not Radians).
For example:
Blade        Kerf        Drop    Angle
FDUR1       0.011"    0.250"  2.5 deg
FDUR5       0.015"    0.250"  3.4 deg
FDUR5       0.015"    0.750"  1.1 deg
FDUR9       0.018"    0.750"  1.4 deg

Notice from the table:
    the same Drop with a thicker Kerf requires a larger Angle
    the same Kerf with a greater Drop requires a smaller Angle

These will get you in the ballpark. You might need a little trial and error on scrap wood to make sure.

Also note - you can fill in the pilot hole and any excess Drop (too thick a Kerf or to small an angle) with a mix of wood glue and sanding dust (saw dust is not fine enough). It seems to work best if the pilot hole is in the darker wood and use the dust from that wood to make the filler. 
 

[bobh47955]

I'm just tickled to death today. I just tried making a relief cutting to try it out. For the life of me I just couldn't think of how a piece of wood that was cut, would not just slide back into the hole it came from. Well I figured it out when I slide the shape into the wood but from the back of the piece. Ah ha! I see. Now to design something to cut with some reliefs on it including letters and some type of figures.

[Jim Finn]

All the advice above is correct.  I do it the same way only I put the wood to be inlaid on the bottom and keep the lettering or image to the high side of my blade.  Attached is a cedar plaque with maple inlay.  I use a font from word and apply it to the wood with carbon paper.  I find cursive much more forgiving to cut than block lettering is.