Rustic Tennessee Sign

Here is how I made a Rustic Tennessee Shaped sign. I loved the shape of my Home state of Tennessee, and I wanted to make a Rustic sign in that shape, this is what I came up with.

You will need the following:

CNC Router- I used the X-Carve CNC

Cad/Cam program- I used Vectric Aspire

Picture of your state

90* V-Bit

1/4" Endmill Bit

Wood- I use a piece of White Pine 24" long x 8" wide x 3/4" thick

File

Stain- I used Minwax Dark Walnut

Brush and clean rags or paper towels

I first search the Internet and found a picture of Tennessee shaped that I liked, it also had the word Tennessee in it. Imported the picture in Vectric Aspire and traced the image. Now I that I have some vectors to work with, I edited the vectors to my liking. Added some vectors to make the sign look and feel aged.

Once that I was happy with the vectors, I switched to the Toolpath side.

Added Toolpaths using the 90* V-Bit and 1/4" Endmill bit. Done a preview of the carving, to see what it would look like. After you are happy with the preview, export the toolpaths.

Now I took the White Pine board and stained it with Minwax Dark Walnut stain, Let the stain dry overnight, and brush a coat of Clear Lacquer, before carving.

Clamped the board in the CNC and begin carving, first using the 90* V-Bit, then the 1/4" Endmill bit.

After taking the sign out of the CNC, I clean off the edges with a Coarse file.

Then blow off the sign and sprayed a couple coats of Clear Matte finish. Let this dry overnight, or at least a couple of hours.

Now either hang up the sign, from the fake bullet holes, or add hanging hardware. Look how the sign, has rough edges, that gives it a aged looked.

Thanks for checking out my Instructable.