Custom Live Edge Signage
Custom live edge signage is a relatively straight-forward process when it comes to carving it out, it just takes time and the right equipment to pull it off correctly.
It might not seem so but this piece of live edge willow is almost the size of my CNC router bed in length, at it’s most wide, it’s just as wide then it narrows rather quickly and its on that section that the customer wanted their company name carved out of it.
The green you see are the extensive remnants of epoxy filling all the holes, there were A LOT OF HOLES in this piece of live edge willow, and many on the back will be filled after this process is done after they fill out the front carving I did in it at CNCROi.com.
Live edge signage has it’s own challenges, the biggest is making sure it doesn’t move!
Although CNCROi.com doesn’t do a lot of lamacoid signage, mostly due to the durability of this material compared to far better alternatives, there is a place and size where it’s the perfect option.
This piece of Willow is about 2″ thick and roughly 200 pounds, so it isn’t light, nor totally flat, which means I need to shim and hold it down at the same time.
Whether there is resin epoxy on this piece of live edge signage or just solid wood or holes from being a real piece of wood, it makes no difference to CNCROi.com‘s CNC router, we will plow through it and carve what needs to be carved… in this case, an inch deep!
What I enjoy about live edge work is the massive amount of variety that exists, it’s incredible just how diverse wood, even with the same species, can be, from solid and hard to soft and textured.
Of course, when it comes to custom signage, I have a little fun for personal enjoyment as well.
The pieces of tape indicate the rough position and orientation that the live edge signage will have the carving performed into it, this can of course vary a bit as this is a piece of live edge, not dimensional lumber, but the results will be precise and perfect regardless.
As our CNC router plows though this soon to be piece of live edge signage, you can already see the letters starting to come-out, of course, there is a lot of dust forming on the surface which makes it hard to see but it’s all there.
As CNCROi.com is performing several passes and going an inch deep into this live edge signage to produce the desired results, I didn’t have the dust system working with the boot as it might come off during the deepest pass and be somewhat useless in the more shallow ones.
There are endless possibilities with CNCROi.com when it comes to your very own custom signage options.
You can see whether there is epoxy resin or not, it makes no difference, the results are all sharp and precise at CNCROi.com.
The shadows produced by going an inch deep are amazing and that alone produces wonderful contrast, but the epoxy resin that the customer will put into the carved out lettering will really make it pop and add a lot of strength to the overall live edge signage.
CNCROi.com has done a lot of carving through the years, both on huge pieces like this piece of Willow and much smaller pieces, with both our CNC routers and CNC laser.
Corian is also a very popular material when it comes to custom signage options.
I’m really enjoying my partially renovated shop at CNCROi.com, it’s the back that’s undergoing a massive transformation which will allow a lot more equipment come into the shop and better efficiencies throughout.
You can see below my Corian hold downs, they have been used for years and work absolutely wonderfully – I made them at CNCROi.com using our smaller CNC router and even with large custom live edge signage such as this, hold things down securely and perfectly.
Of course, you aren’t limited to wood at CNCROi.com – want custom signage out of metal? No problem!
You can see below a better representation of the hold-down I’m using, the weight of the live edge itself holds it down, but where there are shims, I really wanted to torque this live edge signage down.
After the live edge signage is finished – as far as CNCROi.com‘s cog in this bigger wheel – there is no real clean-up required by the customer, they can right away begin pouring resin to fill the voids and the carving.
You really don’t see much of this in the real world due to the relative costs involved in not just machining something this large flat and sanding it but also carving and the kiln dried live edge piece itself… so it will stand-out no matter where you put it.
You can really get an idea of the depth in the above photo and notice where CNCROi.com carved into the epoxied parts, it’s like it was nothing different than the Willow I was carving.
Literally anything can be transformed into custom signage, plywood is a popular choice as it’s relatively cost effective compared to this live edge signage.
Without any further work, this piece of live edge signage will get noticed and it looks awesome, throw-on some finishing after the epoxy fills are all done and you’ll have something that belongs in a museum.
The picture below really does a wonderful job at showcasing just how big this live edge signage really is, it’s really a thing of absolute beauty!
Need custom signage? Contact CNCROi.com right now!