View Full Version : Appalachian Trail signs
joshcampfield
10-15-2005, 14:19
Is there a font out there that looks like the letters on woodcut signs? I do typography, but when I was on the AT I looked at the signs and I've been looking for a font that looks like them ever since.
Also, are there any standards for the lettering on the signs?
Rain Man
10-15-2005, 21:00
I'd say "Comic sans MS" is the closest widely-available similar font that I know of.
Rain:sunMan
.
TJ aka Teej
10-15-2005, 21:41
Here's what that font looks like on a faux trail sign I created:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=1725&c=searchresults&searchid=67
joshcampfield
10-15-2005, 22:12
Just FYI - I found the perfect font for AT signs on my own computer - stupid me...of course I have literally thousands of fonts since I do graphic design...It's called Magnesium MVB and I could send it to you if anyone wants it. Just reply or pm me with your email.
--josh
Is there a font out there that looks like the letters on woodcut signs? I do typography, but when I was on the AT I looked at the signs and I've been looking for a font that looks like them ever since.
Also, are there any standards for the lettering on the signs?
Most of the signs are made by volunteers in Maine anyway.
As I understand the process, most print out the sign on their computer printers, glue the paper with a minimally sticky, removable glue on the wooden base and then rout the sign through the paper, before removing what's left of the computer generated paper version of the sign.
I've never made an official AT sign. But last summer I tried to copy the AT signs for routed signs for one of our town land trust preserves.
I found a wide san serif font like arial is the easiest to rout. I used a three quarter inch "vee" router bit, on larger signs, and a three eigth inch bit for smaller printing.
I'm not very practiced at writing with a router, but no one has complained as yet about the finished signs.
Weary
What the font difference does it make? ;)
What the font difference does it make? ;)
so bad.... :p
Whistler
10-17-2005, 08:42
What the font difference does it make? ;)Chill, man. You're taking this way to serifsly.
-Mark
Whistler
10-17-2005, 08:43
"too" I should say.
*sigh* I wish I could spell. Or edit. Either one would be great.
-Mark
What the font difference does it make? ;)
Well if your handling of a router is as sloppy as mine, the details of a font can't be discerned anyway.
But the basic rules for trail construction and maintenance is: "Appalachian Trail, DEsign, Construction and Maintenance" by William Birchard Jr., and Robert Proudman.
They don't offer font suggestions for routed signs. I would never attempt a font with serifs. But Earle Towne of the Cabin in East Andover produced a wonderfully detailed routed sign for one of our town land trust preserves, complete with serifs on the letters.
Birchard and Proudman remind that the AT is a primitive trail and signs should reflect that primitiveness. Maximum size they say should be 1.5 inch letters for main headings and to use 1/2, 3/4, or 1 inch letters for the rest of a sign.
For printed signs the two suggest "using one readable font, such as Helvetica, Geneva, Folio, or Universe, or serif ITC Century Face or Times."
The trail manual is available from ATC by opening their web site and following the links to the trail store.
Weary
Smile Weary - he was making a funny.....say it out loud quickly...lol...:D
my hubby gets catalogs (he's into woodworking) with great router stencil kits. Its just tough to do lettering with a router because of how the router physically works. Do you have a plunge router?
walkin' wally
10-17-2005, 20:19
Sears Roebuck makes a kit to make signs using a template with letters or numbers in two sizes. You need to use a router to follow the template.
This is what I used to make a sign for the Rainbow Dam side trail. I used a straight bit or a vee bit.
The Maine ATC also has a person who will make signs for maintainers for their sections.
Smile Weary - he was making a funny.....say it out loud quickly...lol...:D
Yeah, I recognized the joke. I just was looking for an excuse to plug Bob Proudman's book. It's an excellent manual for trail volunteers -- on or off the AT. I know also about templates, though I've never seen any one work with them.
I don't know why the MATC sign maker doesn't use a template device -- or why Bob doesn't mention the possibility in his book.. Maybe it's because MATC and ATC wants the signs to have a deliberately hand-carved look to go with the primitive nature of most of the trail. Or maybe it's just faster to hold a plunge router and rout, than to mess with templates.
Once I got the hang of it, my land trust signs went much faster and came out better than I expected. The hard part is not the routing -- providing you can stand a little irregularity -- but the three coats of paint and filling the routed letters with white paint.
Even with my shaky hands from five months on prednisone steroids, I suspect I could become a pretty good sign carver with a bit more practice.
Weary
walkin' wally
10-18-2005, 09:50
Hi Weary,
I assumed that the sign makers for the MATC used a device of some kind because the signs are so neat and the spacing so even and consistent. The signs I make with the template do no look as good as those.
I see the new signs in the spring at the MATC annual meeting and they look like a lot of work to me. Those people do a good job.