We renamed our boat without much fuss a couple of seasons ago. In fact it was such a non-event that the old name remained in faded print on the stern quarters. Eventually our negligence became a bit confusing, so research for a new shiny set of stick-on vinyl letters was initiated. Not long into the pursuit, it was obvious that this convenient method was surprisingly expensive. Our boat is a cute double ender, i.e no transom, so two name sets are needed. TURNSTONE in 3" letters printed with a contrasting outline would cost almost $100 from one supplier. No way.

Soon after the idea of carving a couple of name boards out of wood was conceived. After further investigation into the subject, and some trial runs, it was deemed a viable, if not superior option. This is what I learned:

Carving letters is extremely difficult if you're going after a straight laced, print-like font with similar size, angle and appearance of the individual letters. The result, with virtually no carving experience, will most likely be disappointing.

The solution is to design a pleasing, hand written style font that thrives on irregularity. One that looks good despite the roughness of freeform carving. With this approach you can have a more relaxed attitude. Missed the line with the knife? No problem, just widen the letter. Can't carve absolutely straight and parallel sided blocks? Doesn't matter, because there aren't any straight lines.

Despite the freedom, a little planning will pay off. Draw the intended design full size on a large piece of paper. Even with slightly dissimilar sized letters it looks best if the overall name doesn't gradually get bigger or smaller. Also try to keep the spacing somewhat even, but at the same time pay attention to the fact that some letter combinations look best closer together or farther apart. There's no need to fuss over two E's being slightly different, as long as they clearly embarked from the same style. And speaking of style: To preserve continuity it is best to design all letters from the same basic idea or principle.

Start with a simple letter, like T, L or I, something with all straight lines. Most letter styles will be defined by long cuts of varying width and depth, meeting at an inverted ridge. Carving across the grain, as in the post of the T, is far easier than the long grain cuts found on the beam of the T. With the latter the knife will want to stay with the grain, instead of following the pencil line. The ultimate challenge is the ever changing grain of an S or O.

First make stop cuts at the ends. With the drop point knife carve a groove of pleasing proportions, probably somewhat shallower than 45 degrees. One way to hold the knife with two hands is shown, but watch out, I'm a lefty. You can use the forward index finger (or thumb) to apply most of the pressure, while the other hand guides the blade along with a smooth, precise motion. It is most satisfactory to make the full depth of the cut in one pass, but in harder species this is difficult. Even with the pine used here, some letters required two passes. Just try to keep the angle of the knife the same. Don't rush anything. Slow and steady does it. Needless to say the tools must be razor sharp to start with. Frequent stropping along the way also helps.

When done I hope your fingers will ache a good deal less than mine! More coffee breaks might have helped. Carving TURNSTONE took about 90 minutes per board. Strive for a neat job, since sanding is next to impossible. Clean up fuss and imperfections with the knives, and when satisfied paint the letters. I gave them 2 coats with some leftover topside paint from the last boat I did. After curing I ran the boards thru a thickness planer to get crisp edges, and remove spills. Going over with a belt or random orbit sander will acheive the same.

Final shaping of the boards can be as elaborate as you please. I chose a simple round finish to the ends, with the fasteners centered in this semi circle. Round or chamfer all edges, then varnish or oil both front and back. Attaching these things to the boat can be a 15 minute job or an all day affair depending on hull material and potential access issues to thru bolted fasteners. Whatever your situation is, it would be prudent to provide airflow between the boards and the topsides with rubber washers on the fasteners.

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