If you aren’t good with cutting boards, you can use a large kitchen knife or carving board and a chisel. I was working in my backyard recently, and was trying to create a wooden sign by hand. The result was a nice hand-engraved oak sign (for those of you that know what I’m talking about, it is an 18 inch by 24 inch sign on two side boards glued together). Once I was done carving the wood sign, I just threw it on the slab in the garden and kept digging. The process of drilling holes in the rock for the holes in the sign was pretty boring. At one point in the process, I decided to use sandpaper to create a surface I wanted to leave clear. The final result is really cool! The surface is actually polished, but it looks good and is very easy to carve. I like that it looks more like a piece of wood than a sign. If you ever want your sign to look like one, try this: Start by sanding the surface to remove any surface imperfections. I used the dry sanding disc provided with my electric sander to remove any surface imperfections such as chip crevices, sanding marks, scratches, etc. Next, remove any other imperfections such as chips, scratches, and even dust. If any of the sanding dust was deposited on the wood, gently remove it by pushing it with the sanding disc. It is okay if the sanding disc gets a little dusty, as you probably don’t want to sand up the wood any more than it needs to be. Once the surface is completely clean, you can sand down the surfaces to a smooth, uniform finish. Be careful not to over-sand, as it will make the surface much more difficult to work with. The process may take many minutes, depending on how thick you want your sign. Be sure to check out my video walkthrough of the process to see exactly what I did. Once you are ready to create your sign, you can cut to shape or file down the curves to a smaller size and use your carving board to carve your own pattern. For instance, if the sign you are making has an irregular shape, you can use an electric saw to cut off some of the irregular pieces using a file. If you want to make an entire sign from just one piece, you can simply file the piece down using sandpaper or a dull knife blade. After the wood is cut, you can finish your work by buffing, polishing, and lac