Question about Lettering

[Cincinnati]

Hi Folks,
I'm not sure this is the correct area to post this......but......
Got a job doing some lettering in maple. The letters are pretty small (3/8" tall) and they like a clear coat, no stain and not painted letters. When I have done these for them in the past they were larger letters and the depth of the letters along with the coats of polyurethane darkened the letters enough and made the lettering stand out, even from a distance. This new round of smaller letters just don't get dark enough for them. Any ideas? I am on a pretty quick deadline for their event so am trying not to do my usual trial and error route. With the price point of these I am also trying not to get upside down on them either.
I know great things take time and effort but am looking for pointers since I am not a sign guy and darkening letters isn't something I have done before (with much luck).
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Thane Lorbach
Cincinnati
thanelorbach (at) gmail (dot) com

[blackhawk]

Thane,

I assume that you are v-carving letters into a flat piece of maple. If you can't stain or paint the letters, I really don't know what you can do to make them stand out.

If you could stain them, I would polyurethane the board first, then carve the letters. You can then stain the letters and wipe off any excess stain that gets on the board.

[Cincinnati]

Thanks Brad. Yes, V carving into maple.
I will do a sample board the way you described, but paint the letters instead of stain. We'll see how they like it. I have tried spraying into shallow v-carved letters before with little luck. I can't seem to get the paint to spray down into the bottom of the carving. I could use a small brush and then sand the surface once dry.
Thanks again for the advice.

[blackhawk]

Thane - If you are going to paint the letters, I would use a paint mask. You want to first polyurethane your material as smooth as possible. After that is cured completely, apply a piece of paint mask to the surface. Smooth it out to remove any air bubbles and then let the mask set on there for at least an hour. Overnight is even better. Then V carve the letters through the mask. Paint the letters as sloppy as you want. Once the paint is dry, pull off the mask and you have nice crisp letters with no paint on your polyurethane surface. I use Avery paint mask. Here is a link to where I get mine.

http://www.harborsales.net/tabid/130/Default.aspx?ProductTypeId=144&ProductFilter1=Avery+Paint+Mask#Product

[chiloquinruss]

I do the same procedure with just one more little step. I very lightly spray clear into the recent v carve and let that dry before the sloppy color paint in the v carve step. That way if there is any bleed at all it will be 'clear' bleed. Have fun. Russ

[GlenP]

Hey Guys. Here is my technique or trick for getting letters to stand out. I do allot of mdf and maple lettering and plaques. What I do is use gel stain on the material. I apply it with a foam brush and push the stain into the letters.I sometimes use air to blow out excess stain out of the lettering. Let it dry and then take a orbital sander to the maple or mdf to sand stain off. I leaves the stain in the vcarved lettering and put material back to it original colour (natural). Then wipe of off dust and clear coat. Depending on colour of stain you will get a nice contrast with no painting or tedious work. Here is a sample of mdf stained with dark walnut get stain. Don't use regular stain, it must be gel stain.
Ill try to find pic for you. There is a mdf plaque (Ontario Vegetable Growers) on my site that is done this way.
Here is some we did with mdf.
Also one in pine with extira letters painted with spray can gold.