What font to use for scroll saw name puzzles
Chris Mahar
easy and quick, and makes a nice personalized gift. I spray paint each
letter a different color. I use 1/8" 3 ply birch backing glued on after
scrolling out the letters. They look good.
Problem is I don't have a master set of letters to copy, so each time I
make a puzzle I draw out the letters by hand on a piece of paper and stick
it to the wood before cutting. It takes a lot of time drawing the letters
out.
I'd like to do this step on the computer, but none of the fonts I've found
on computer are right. The letters need to be pretty beefy, at least 1/2"
thick, with no pointy corners, since very young kids will be playing with
them. Has anyone done something like this? Can anyone recommend a font, or
a better method?
tpe...@efws.com
It is a bit informal for some applications but it sounds like it will work for
you. The font is available in several different thicknesses and also italic.
Heres a hint for you; If you apply a thin outline to your fonts and then give
them a white fill you will wast much less ink when printing. The pattern is
easier to follow too.
In article <6snq12$3...@bgtnsc03.worldnet.att.net>,
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"Chris Mahar" <cma...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> I make name puzzles from 1/4" 5-ply birch for kids birthdays. It's fairly
> easy and quick, and makes a nice personalized gift. I spray paint each
> letter a different color. I use 1/8" 3 ply birch backing glued on after
> scrolling out the letters. They look good.
>
> Problem is I don't have a master set of letters to copy, so each time I
> make a puzzle I draw out the letters by hand on a piece of paper and stick
> it to the wood before cutting. It takes a lot of time drawing the letters
> out.
>
> I'd like to do this step on the computer, but none of the fonts I've found
> on computer are right. The letters need to be pretty beefy, at least 1/2"
> thick, with no pointy corners, since very young kids will be playing with
> them. Has anyone done something like this? Can anyone recommend a font, or
> a better method?
>
> cma...@apsc.com
>
>
Don't know about computer fonts but Patrick Spielman has a number of scroll
saw pattern books out some of which have letters. I just photocopy them and
spray glue on the letters I need.
-- Steve Cullen
John McGaw
Bitstream's Informal011 is nice and chunky with no thin lines. This font
also goes under the names Neuland and Othello from what I can tell.
John McGaw
Knoxville, TN
Chris Mahar <cma...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in article
<6snq12$3...@bgtnsc03.worldnet.att.net>...
yad...@hotmail.com
[...]
> I'd like to do this step on the computer, but none of the fonts I've found
> on computer are right. The letters need to be pretty beefy, at least 1/2"
> thick, with no pointy corners, since very young kids will be playing with
> them. Has anyone done something like this? Can anyone recommend a font, or
> a better method?
>>
>> cma...@apsc.com
>>
>>
>
>Don't know about computer fonts but Patrick Spielman has a number of scroll
>saw pattern books out some of which have letters. I just photocopy them and
>spray glue on the letters I need.
>
>-- Steve Cullen
>
>-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
>http://www.dejanews.com/rg_mkgrp.xp Create Your Own Free Member Forum
Chris,
Since you have Windows 95, use Word (if you have it)
Open a new document, type a single *A*, select it, change
its font to Arial, and change the font size to 300 or so. Voila.
If you don't like Arial, pick a "sans serif" font that you like.
Herm
change yadlah to halday
Tyke
Congrats on an unusual, but interesting post. I think laying out on the PC
is a great idea.
There are literally thousands of fonts in the market. I could inundate you
with names, but they would be meaningless unless you have the font on your
PC. A few examples of big letters with no "pointies" are :
Balloon
Dom Casual
Machine
VAG Round
I suggest that you go out any buy a CD at a computer show which contain
hundreds of fonts. Only buy one which includes the printed manual to show
you what the fonts look like.
If you also invest in an inexpensive drawing program, such as Micrografx's
"Print Studio" about $50, you can also convert a font to curves and then
play with the font to make whatever design changes you would like. There
are also font generation programs which do the same, but they are more
expensive and not as easy to use for your purposes.
Another response suggested that you print out the font with a thin outline
and white fill to save ink. This is a good suggestion. To build on this, I
suggest that once you have the font you want, you print the outline using an
inkjet printer, and special "T shirt transfer" paper, which is really a
film. This can then be ironed onto the wood you are about to cut, and after
the scrolling could be readily sanded off. You can print many letters on an
8.5x11in piece of film, cut out the letters and iron them onto the wood
blanks.
Dave Paine.
Chris Mahar wrote in message <6snq12$3...@bgtnsc03.worldnet.att.net>...
>I make name puzzles from 1/4" 5-ply birch for kids birthdays. It's fairly
>easy and quick, and makes a nice personalized gift. I spray paint each
>letter a different color. I use 1/8" 3 ply birch backing glued on after
>scrolling out the letters. They look good.
>
>Problem is I don't have a master set of letters to copy, so each time I
>make a puzzle I draw out the letters by hand on a piece of paper and stick
>it to the wood before cutting. It takes a lot of time drawing the letters
>out.
>
Leonard J. Meiselman
>
> Chris,
>
> Bitstream's Informal011 is nice and chunky with no thin lines. This font
> also goes under the names Neuland and Othello from what I can tell.
>
> John McGaw
> Knoxville, TN
>
> Chris Mahar <cma...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in article
> > I make name puzzles from 1/4" 5-ply birch for kids birthdays. It's
> fairly
> > easy and quick, and makes a nice personalized gift. I spray paint each
> > letter a different color. I use 1/8" 3 ply birch backing glued on after
> > scrolling out the letters. They look good.
> >
> > Problem is I don't have a master set of letters to copy, so each time I
> > make a puzzle I draw out the letters by hand on a piece of paper and
> stick
> > it to the wood before cutting. It takes a lot of time drawing the
> letters
> > out.
> >
> > I'd like to do this step on the computer, but none of the fonts I've
> found
> > on computer are right. The letters need to be pretty beefy, at least
> 1/2"
> > thick, with no pointy corners, since very young kids will be playing with
> > them. Has anyone done something like this? Can anyone recommend a font,
> or
> > a better method?
> >
> > cma...@apsc.com
> >
> >
> >
Pareic Spielman wrote several books of scroll saw work and patterns
which contain good fonts. You can buy them in most woodworking stores.
My local library has mo0st of them.If you don't have one yourself You
can probably find a friend who has a computer and scanner and get them
into a computer file. They can be reversed easily. Printing out the
letters on a laser priinter has anotther advantage. The patterns can be
treansfered directly to the wood with an ordinary iron.
Len
Markus.E...@t-online.de
> I'd like to do this step on the computer, but none of the fonts I've found
> on computer are right. The letters need to be pretty beefy, at least 1/2"
> thick, with no pointy corners, since very young kids will be playing with
> them. Has anyone done something like this? Can anyone recommend a font, or
> a better method?
Hi Chris,
If you've got a drawing program (I use coreldraw, you should be able to
get an older version - 3-5 - rather cheaply), you could try a thicker
outline on any font and adjust corner radius and line ends. This would
beef up the letters and make them more suitable for scrollsawing.
Hope this is of use for you,
Markus
Kalia Kliban
>Chris Mahar schrieb:
>> I'd like to do this step on the computer, but none of the fonts I've found
>> on computer are right. The letters need to be pretty beefy, at least 1/2"
>> thick, with no pointy corners, since very young kids will be playing with
>> them. Has anyone done something like this? Can anyone recommend a font, or
>> a better method?
There's a font called Cooper (sometimes Cooper Black) that fits your
description. It's fairly easy to find, and the letters, if swallowed, would
go down pretty easy. It's a nice, round, bulgy letterform that reads really
well. Happy hunting.
Kalia
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