Instead I will just post the finished results.
It's a house sign for a relative. It's also the first piece of woodworking that I have been paid for, as this was in essence a commission piece. It's carved in European White Oak and has been given a coat of Raw Linseed Oil, followed by one of Boiled Linseed Oil, which I am led to believe, with regular re-coatings of the Boiled Linseed Oil, will make it reasonably weather resistant.
From sketching out the letters, to applying the final coat of oil the project took me roughly 10-11 hours. Though I'm sure a professional sign maker would hammer something like this out in much shorter time. It's my second attempt at letter cutting, something I was put onto by my Grandpa, who used to do some letter cutting pieces now and then for a little extra cash when he was younger (there may still be a few plaques in churches etc. made by his hand), and who has given me some verbal instruction (and hopefully a practical lesson soon, as there are a few points I struggle with). My first letter cutting job consisted of carving my initials on the top of a box I made - my first 'proper' wood work project (I may post that at some point too).
There are a few mistakes (I won't highlight them) but viewed from the sort of distance you tend to view a house sign at I'm pretty happy with the results, and more importantly the customer is too.
And finally, just because I had it ready for a how-to post, this is what I use when marking out the letters to make sure their proportions etc. are all correct.
