Making an Outdoor Wood Sign Using Custom Stencils

My wife and I are supporters of a charity organization that had just purchased and renovated a store front building in the “Back of the Yards” neighborhood of Chicago. The charity is called Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation (pbmr.org) and this building will serve as a healing place for peace circles, classes, and gatherings. In fact, the building will be called “The Front Porch” as a metaphor for these heart felt and passionate gatherings. The charity needed a sign, with this designation on it, to place on the front of the building.

A large, commercially manufactured sign can be quite expensive. A wooden sign can be made at a lot lower cost. I volunteered to make this sign. I wanted the sign to be structurally just one piece of wood with no joints so the width of the sign would be limited to 8 feet, cut from a standard sheet of ¾” thick x 4 ft. x 8 ft. plywood.

• Cascamite - Powdered resin wood glue that is waterproof
• Gloss White Paint - Rust-Oleum oil-based enamel
• Gloss Ford Blue Paint - Rust-Oleum oil-based enamel
• Wood Filler - Elmer’s Golden Oak
• Polycrylic Finish - Minwax
• Pressure Treated Wood - 2” x 4” x 10 ft.
• Birch Plywood - 4 ft. x 8 ft. x ¾” thick
• Vinyl Letters - 2” High from Amazon
• 15" Diameter pre-cut pine wood disk
• #8 x 1 1/4" Coarse thread wood screws
• #8 x 1" wood screws
• #8 x 3 1/2" Deck screws
• #8 x 1 5/8" Deck Screws

Tools Used:

• Table Saw
• Variable Speed Routers
• Portable Jig Saw
• Portable Sanders
• Router Template Guide
• C-Clamps
• Router Bits
• Electric Hanging Wood Carving Machine
• Stencil Tracing Tool

The sign graphic was designed by the PBMR staff. I took the graphic image and enlarged it to a width of 8 feet or 96 inches on a simple graphic program (Microsoft Paint). The height would be proportional to the 8-foot width (approximately 21 inches). The quality of the image was impacted a little bit, but it was fine for tracing purposes. I had the large graphic printed at a commercial printing company on a large format printer.

Typically, cardboard and vinyl stencils are used to reproduce a cut pattern on the surface below by application of ink or paint through the openings. I want to use this stencil concept to rout letters on the wood surface of the plywood sign. This will make the sign look much more professional rather than trying to freehand the letters.

I used ¼ inch thick hardboard for the stencil material. It was relatively cheap and easy to cut with a portable jig saw. It was also very sturdy and would not flex with side pressure from routing the letters. I bought large pieces of carbon paper to ease in tracing the letters. I decided to make a stencil for each word on a separate piece of hardboard (THE, FRONT, PORCH).

First, the carbon paper was placed with ink side down on the precut piece of hard board. The full-size paper graphic was then positioned over the carbon paper. I taped everything in place and traced the letter with a pencil or tracing tool (rounded ball edge). The paper graphic and carbon paper were then removed and set aside.

I used a small diameter drill bit to place a starter hole in each letter. The letters were then cut out with a jig saw equipped with a fine-toothed blade. Note that the letters “O”, “R” and “P” had “islands” in the middle of the letter that had to be held in place. Two “bridges”, one on each side of the island were left in the stencil for these 3 letters. The letters had any rough edges smoothed with 150 grit fine sandpaper. Multiple, evenly spaced, countersink holes were placed in the hardboard stencils to allow a temporary means of attachment to the plywood sign with #8 x 1-inch-long wood screws. 

The 4 ft x 8 ft plywood sheet was positioned on my table saw so a cut at 21 inches from the table saw fence could be cut. This 21” x 96” plywood piece will be our sign.

In this step the paper sign graphic had to be transferred to the plywood itself, so I knew where the stencils should be positioned. Again, the carbon paper was placed with the ink side down and the full-size paper graphic was positioned over the carbon paper and centered on the plywood. I taped and tacked everything in place and traced the letters with the tracing tool. The paper graphic and carbon paper were then removed and set aside.

Each hardboard stencil was lined up with the corresponding traced letters on the plywood sign. They were temporarily secured in place with #8 x 1” wood screws. Remember, the screw holes were beveled so the head of each screw was below the level of the hardboard. In this way the screw heads will not interfere with the base of the router.

The charity information line letters were too small to be routed out with a custom stencil. I was able to find standard vinyl letters that looked close to the font used on the sign graphic. They were just a little bit smaller at 2” high. These will be used to create the informational line below the routed line. But instead of using the letters in the usual way on the final sign I decided to use them as “stencils” or placeholders for their outline.

White enamel paint was first painted on the plywood sign where the informational line will be located. The position of each letter was then penciled in with a vertical pencil line just below the painted area. A horizontal line was drawn for reference to keep the vinyl letters aligned. Finally, the vinyl letters were carefully placed on the sign in their correct position. These letters of the informational line will stay in place when the background blue color is painted on the sign.

The base of the router must be adapted to follow the wood stencil outline. You must use a guide bushing for this. These bushings usually come in a kit of various sizes. See the photo. It is important to use a bushing that is close to the diameter of your router bit and whose height is equal to or less than the thickness of your wood stencil. There is a special bushing for doing decorative wood inlays, but we do not need that here. That is the brass colored one in the photo. One last note, the size of the routed letters will be slightly less than the graphic (0.02 inches) by the thickness of the bushing wall, but that is of no consequence here.

I used a bushing that had a 1/8” wall and had a slightly larger diameter than the round nose router bit being used. It was attached to the base of the router. The outline of each letter was then routed out to a depth of approximately 1/4” depth. Next, the round nose router bit was changed out to an end cutting flush trim bit. The router was then used to clear out the rest of each letter inside the previously routed outline.

Once all letters were initially routed, the hardboard stencils were unscrewed and removed. On each stencil with islands, the hardboard bridges had to be removed with the jig saw again and smoothed with sandpaper. I had secured a screw through each island to make sure I replaced it in the same spot on the plywood. The resulting islands were marked from each letter they came from and saved. The word stencils and islands were then screwed back in place. A second temporary retention screw was added to each island to prevent any rotation. The outline of the bridges were then removed with the router to complete the “O”, “P” and “R” letters.

The hardboard stencils were removed again, and the routing of the sign letters was now complete. Next, any rough areas and imperfections in the plywood layers were filled in with wood putty. Also, the screw holes made from holding the hardboard stencils in place had to be filled in. Once the putty dried, the routed letters and the surface of the plywood were sanded with 150 grit sandpaper. The routed letters had to be sanded by hand.

I decided to carve the logo on a separate piece of wood. This way, if I made a mistake, I wouldn’t have to start over with a brand-new piece of plywood. In addition, I could raise the logo off the surface of the sign to give the sign some depth.

The pre-cut 15” diameter round piece of pine was purchased at a local hardware store. It was approximately 1” thick. Using the carbon paper again, I traced the logo design onto the pine disk. I used a hanging electric wood carving chisel to rout out the logo design by hand. For the most part I used a ¼” round bur in the wood chisel handpiece. I was able to stay within the lines of the tracing and carve the design to a depth of ¼”.

The carved logo was then sanded with 150 grit sandpaper to soften the round bur marks. The entire disk was then painted with two coats of gloss white enamel. This is the basic background color. The carved design was painted with two shades of red to match the charity logo. The middle cross was painted gray. After all the painting was completed, the wooden disk was set aside and allowed to dry thoroughly.

Once the paint was dry, the logo disk had to be prepared for attachment to the main plywood sign. First, the edge of the wooden logo disk was routed to achieve a lip of approximately ½” width and ½” depth. This would produce a clean, finished edge when the logo was inlayed into the main plywood sign. But before that could be done, a round hole was routed in the main plywood sign to a depth of ½” to accept the logo.

The placement of the logo had been traced onto the plywood when the letters were traced. Again, a custom hardboard stencil was fabricated as a guide for the hole placement and temporarily screwed into place. The diameter of the routed hole was slightly larger than the trimmed bottom of the logo disk. Once the inlay hole was routed, the round stencil was then removed. These remaining screw holes were filled in with wood putty also. 

At this point I added a 1 ½” thick bracing frame to the back of the plywood sign. I ripped a piece of 2” x 4” x 10 ft. pressure treated lumber (water resistant) in half, lengthwise. This gave me two lengths that were approximately 1 ¾” inches wide. These pieces were cut to length to fit flush to the edge of the sign around the entire perimeter. They were nailed and screwed in place. Decking screws were used because of their resistance to weathering. An extra 2” x 4” piece of lumber was cut to fit on the back, in the middle of the sign, and secured in place to give more rigidity.

The surface of the plywood was sanded with an electric palm sander. All the dried wood putty was smoothed to the surface. The white vinyl letters of the subtitle were not sanded.

The blue background was painted first. The base color I started with was Rust-Oleum “Ford Blue” oil-based enamel paint. I added a small portion of green and gray enamel to match the background color of the original graphic designed by the charity. I used a 6” foam paint roller to apply this background paint. I rolled the paint right over the vinyl letters of the charity information line. All outside strengthened edges were also painted. I applied a total of 3 coats, allowing complete drying of the paint between coats.

Next, the routed letters were painted with a gloss white oil-based enamel. I used Rust-Oleum gloss white. These letters had to be hand painted very carefully. Various small artist brushes were used. A total of 3 coats were applied. It was time consuming, but I think the routed letters stand out nicely.

There were a few steps left to finish the sign. First, the PBMR logo had to be attached. A special powdered resin wood glue was used called Cascamite. Being waterproof, it should hold up under outside weather conditions. The glue was applied to the back of the logo disk and to the routed inlay hole and then the wood logo was set in place. Care was taken to ensure the logo was in its correct vertical alignment.

The wood logo disk was clamped in place very carefully so as not to scratch the logo. I used angle iron clamped on each side of the plywood to put even pressure on the disk. Some padding was placed under the angle iron. Regular C-Clamps did not have a deep enough throat to clamp the middle of the disk. To ensure a good bond, #8 x 1 ¼’ wood screws were screwed into the disk from the back of the plywood. Once the glue was dry, the clamps and angle iron were removed.

Next, the vinyl letters of the charity information line were carefully teased off. The tip of a sharp scalpel blade was used to lift a corner of each letter to start the process. The resulting text line came out better than expected. No blue background paint has seep under the vinyl letters. The text line could be read clearly, and the multiple layers of blue paint gave the letters the appearance of being slightly routed also.

Finally, I wanted to add a little more protection for the sign from the hash Chicago weather. I decided to use a satin polycrylic finish by MinWax. I applied two coats using the 6” foam roller again. This dried completely clear and dulled the high shine of the sign just a little bit.

All that remained was to have the sign permanently attached to the outside of the PBMR building.