How do you sign your work?

Sign and date the piece with a Sharpie. Usually someplace where it is not obvious (depends on the piece) Signed before finishing.

Hey Dan
That’s real professional looking. I’ve gone the gamut from metal plaques to branding irons or punch sets.
Now I just sign and date an number it with a paint pen

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

i make a cresent moon over the sun plug and inlay it .
im hoping that historians will know how to read it someday .
david made this !

-- david ,new mexico ,allheart

I use a router with a veining bit and do it on the bottom of the piece along with the date. real shallow

-- I think I need a dust collector

i have a burnmaster by mastercarver, it lets me burn in a few other words when i want to be more personal with certain piece’s …...

-- The Grizzone

My wonderful wife has gifted me with three different brands to mark my work with. While the backgrounds and art are different, they all say, “Handcrafted by Charles S. Holzheimer”.

Now, if I could just figure out who this guy Charles is and why my wife wants me to brand all my work with his name, I’m all set!! Just kidding.

-- Behind the Bark is a lot of Heartwood----Charles, Centennial, CO

I use a wood burning kit also and just use it like I would a pen and sign my name ,month,year and sometimes the wood species.

-- Scott NM,http://www.shangrilawoodworks.com

Custom branding iron here.

-- Don S.E. OK

I got a rubber stamp and pad made to order. Usually stamp after first coat of finnish and sanded, before second coat. That way wood is sealed and ink doesnt bleed into it.

-- Scrap Wood's the best...the projects are smaller, and so is the mess!

I do the same as scrappy…custom rubber stamp that looks a lot like the oval branding iron pattern. I also add a penny or nickel from the year the piece was made.

I sign and date cabinets and furniture in pencil. I’ve been signing my rolling pins with a sharpie before finishing them and discovered that after about a month it has all but disappeared. Any suggestions ?

-- mike & judy western md. www. pvwoodcrafts.com pvwccf1@verizon.net

Since my last name(Penning) is close to penny, I glue in a penny that has the year the item was built.

-- http://www.brianpenning.com/

I have the easiest name. I usually use a burner.

Important Question I think.

I’ve done it all, and I’m not really happy about any of the methods. Paper labels fall off, or don’t make it through the first refinishing process. Wood burning doesn’t work really well unless I buy a more expensive burner. Dremels are hard to get good letters that have curves to them, without turning the piece in all directions. Carving with a knife takes time, and the little letters in my name are hard to do to where they are readable. Branding irons are ok if you have the money to buy one, so I don’t have one. Brass plaques are ok, although are easily removable, which is a benefit to a refinisher that wants to save the provenance. Magic Markers fade over time into the finishes I use, or bleed in to the wood grain, or if you put the finish on after signing, the finish blurs the lettering. Native American Crafts people, historically put a “mark” they liked into every piece they made, not a name or date, unless it was made for the tourist trade.

Lately, I’ve been using a Dremel Engraving Vibrating point. Works pretty well, especially on very hard wood such as maple, or on end grain like the bottom of a wooden vessel. I’m not totally happy with the process, but that’s what I’m doing now.

I make a lot of custom knives. The standard for knife makers is to do photo paper metal etching with a little machine and kit that costs about $200. It’s a neat system, and would lend itself to making my own little metal plaques that I could attach with nails. It’s how custom knife makers put their name on a stainless steel blade with the black etched lettering.

I know two leather crafters that have leather stamping dies made, and I’ve wondered about cutting out small leather pads and using that method, attaching them with brass nails.

I have a friend that has a laser engraving business. We’ve been tossing around the idea of him burning some small Alder wood discs with my logo and name and website, and then leave a small place for me to use the vibrating engraver to sign and date the disc. Then, I would just use a forstener bit and drill in a small indentation for the inlaying of the disc. But, some things I make, the disc wouldn’t work at all. I might try that method one of these days. I’ve also had him engrave my logo in a piece directly. But the cost is just too high to use every time, adds about $10 and a week to everything I make. If it wasn’t for the lack of $10,000, I might enjoy having one of those small laser machines myself.

But here’s the big question…...

Does any of this “Signature” thing Matter?

I still am drawn to an “old-skool feel” that rubber stamps, and brass lettered plaques, woodburner plaques, and laser engraved discs can’t give. I’m not a factory, I make each thing I do one at a time, and so I’m sort of drawn to the notion of making it look like that is the facts, and just signing with my own hand. I just like the personal feel that it gives.

My concern is that the signature is important.

Understand, it’s Not that I’m important, but here’s the thing: Over the past 5 years, the majority of my customers have specifically asked to make sure I “sign” the piece they’ve bought. So, it not only seems important to me as the “Maker” but also to those that do the buying/collecting.

Those of us that take the time to hand make something, put everything they have into what they make. For some it’s a passion for a hobby, and for others an income source. Either way, marking and dating the work is important in my mind.

Recently, there was a Rustic Rocking Chair on the Antique Roadshow signed with the name “Zachary” and a date from the early 1990’s. The appraiser had no idea who the guy was, but gave it a good appraisal, and noted that the carved signature was a prominent feature.

I’ve done some research to figure out how other contemporary crafts people that are real Masters of their craft sign their work. George Nakashima used a Magic Marker and bold signature. The line of furniture that was factory built using his designs used a woodburned stamping process. Sam Maloof used a wood burning pen, and hand wrote the information about the serial number, date, and his signature prominently. Marc Adams doesn’t sign his work at all, but never did explain to me why that was, but it is a special point to him not to sign his work. I was humbled by his abilities and his preference for remaining anonymous. Gustav Stickley had the guys that actually built the pieces in the factory punch the “Mark” with a tool. Roycraft Factory, also used a punched “mark” tool. A Kansas Master is Mike Livingston, and he carves his name on the FRONT of the pieces just as prominently as a canvas painter signs the bottom corner of a major painting. I like Mike’s method, I just haven’t “arrived” yet to the point where I can so prominently sign my name. I mean, I know me, and I’m not that impressed. Maybe someday I can do it like Mike does.

I suppose my preference is sort of what Sam Maloof did, making the signing a “Moment.”

I just spent 500 hours this year building two rocking chairs. After the chairs were loaded in the Yukon and I was leaving to deliver them, I remembered that I hadn’t signed one of them. So, I grabbed an extension cord and the engraver and left my mark laying on my side in the back of the Yukon. I surprise myself that the signature is as important to me as it is, and then like a bonehead, I forgot to do it earlier. Ugh. Living with myself is a chore at times…...ok most of the time. Just ask my wife. But, about 15 minutes after the chairs were sitting in the customer’s house, she asked me if I had signed each one. Of course, I didn’t say that I had done it laying on my side in the back of the Yukon an hour before.

In the PBS series “Craft in America”, episode 1, there is a scene where Sam Maloof’s employees are sitting quietly around the room while Sam patiently signs and dates the bottom of a chair seat with the wood burner. You get the impression watching that scene, that the Signature for Sam was not a rushed deal. As much time and care was given to the signature as every other aspect of his work. Important lesson to the rest of us wannabe’s. It was just a cool moment to witness on video, and if you haven’t seen it, I feel that this one important scene alone would be worth ordering the series on DVD. I felt that way the first time I saw it a year ago when Sam was still living. I watched it again a couple of weeks ago, and the romance and “moment in antiquity” that the scene captures brought tears to a guy like me. But, I cry a lot at emotionally charged things, so I’m probably not the best judge of a “moment” that is incredible to everyone else.

After watching the Antique Roadshow tv series for so many years, I’ve decided that all of my work must get some sort of signature and date. I’m still working on what is the best way to do that. I’ll enjoy watching this Forum Topic for new ideas.

Thanks,
m

-- Mark DeCou - American Contemporary Craft Artisan - www.decoustudio.com

Mark:

Well said – res ipsa loquitur…

I acquired a very old drawknife that I use every day. It appears to have been made from an old file. The maker knew his tools and shaped it perfectly for its intended purpose. The die-stamped signature on the back of the blade reads “W F Selm” – perhaps an Amish blacksmith from Eastern Kentucky.

Although I haven’t been able to identify the maker, his signature tells me his name. The workmanship embodied in the tool tells me his skill. When my hands grasp where his once were, I feel them guiding me in my quest to work the grain of the wood with tradition. Moreover, I feel an obligation to elevate my craft to a level of skill befitting this unknown tool maker.

I sign my work with a simple stylized “rg” for my initials, using a black pen or a woodburning stylus. I see my mark as a sign of pride, not of ego. My mark says “I made this.”, whether good or bad in the eyes of the beholder.

-- Randy, Rustic Artisan, a family tradition. (No PM's - auto-deleted.) - "I am a seeker, not a follower."

Mark as always you summed it up best.I think the same way you do about the signature I never liked branding irons etc. I feel they are too impersonable.I use a burner the burner it self is not a real expensive one it was finding a burning pen that worked more like a regular pen that I had a hard time finding.I can try to find the info on it if interested.
I had the pleasure of watching Sam sign a piece in his shop and your right it was definitly as important to him as making the chair was ,and it was a “moving” moment (glad I’m not the only one that gets “sappy” over things like that)

-- Scott NM,http://www.shangrilawoodworks.com

Dang! I haven’t made anything big enough to sign yet! ; )
I like the way Sam Maloof did his, he signed them with a Sharpie and coated over them…

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

Initials and date with a Sharpie. That’s it

-- Bibb in CO at http://katanadesign.com

I recently made a dresser for my niece and a carving for a friend. I don’t really expect my work to go beyond the people i make them for but in the case of my niece (who is only 2) I wanted to put a special message in a conspicuous place that only my familly would know to look. In the case of the carving I mounted it to a plaque that I put a message on.

For the dresser I simply used some scrapbooking templates and sharpie like markers for the message and then i hand signed it for the personal touch.

For the carving (which has become my preferred method now) I created the message on my computer in the font and style I wanted. I then printed it on a laser printer. Then using some carbon paper, I traced over the letters to transfer them to the wood. I then used a woodburner with a fine tip to burn letters into the wood. I then clear coated over it to protect it. Ok so I can hear you all saying “geez! that sounds like quite the lengthy process!” Actually once I got it printed it went fairly fast. Considering that the words would be visible it was well worth the extra time to do it this way.
As for a signature, what I am in the process of doing is making my own signature. Maybe I will get a brand made someday but this way I can just print it out. Transfer it as descirbed and burn it in myself.

-- "Make things as simple as possible... but not any simpler." - Albert Einstein

I just date and initial, in an inconspicuous place, in black ink. I love the “Roller Ball” pens! They glide much better than ball points.
On personal gifts, I sometimes add a thought or wish…
For the lesser, as well as the greater, the signing is an “Event”. My work is MY work, the work of my hands and heart and mind. Even with all the imperfections in it (and in me!), I prefer to take all the credit (or blame!). I find it somehow comforting to hope that someday, when I’m long gone, somebody will hold something that I fashioned, and say “Whoever this MC guy was, he did a nice job on this!”. Of course, with my luck, they’ll probably say “Hey! It’s cold in here! Bust it up and throw it on the fire already, will ya?!” :-)

-- Mike in Manchester, NH---Unpleasant tasks are simply worthy challenges to improve skills.

I use to carve my logo into the bottom of the piece, now, I use a sharpie and put the date with it. I’d like to get a custom made branding iron made at some point.

-- "At its best, life is completely unpredictable." - Christopher Walken

You want your signature to be done as custom and personal as you can get it like your average signature with a pen. Problem being any wooworker down the road can refinish your project and take the credit with ease and disrespect. What I like to do which is the closest I can get to writing with a sharpie is get out my palm router (laminate trimmer for people who wanna get specific) and I use it just like I would use a pen and engrave my name and date about 1/16 – 1/8 ” deep so even if the credit stealin prick wanted to fill it in later down the road with fill its still recognizable.

-- Good, better, best; Never let it rest until your good is better and your better best! Mark, Windsor, Ontario

I use a gel pen. Pilot G-2 05. Black, extra fine point, applies to most woods nicely and is good and dark. I apply it on the wood before the first coat of finish. (As long as I remember to do that first! if not then I just make sure there is at least one coat on top.) I have not had it bleed into the wood yet.

I use a straight edge to make a small design with an opening in the middle where I sign. Also includes a sequential number and the date.

I have not made anything the I would consider to be something that might get refinished in years to come so I have not even condisered that possibility. I suspect Mark’s take on it would be reasonable for that type of work.

-- If, in your life, you attain the means to help; you incur the responsibility to act.

This is my little dude. Branding iron I made, actually my initials back to back. I have a tutorial on making irons.

-- Dan-- Info for all @ http://www.hoistman.com

Great thread… I was always considering this, but never really knew even where to begin. thanks for bringing this to the open Daniel, there are some good ideas here. I like the wood burning idea the most – as it seems it lets you sign your work in a more personal way.

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

Good idea papadan. But you didn’t give the particulars as to your tutorial site so I dug a little, hope you don’t mind.

Papadans website is at here

And how he makes his branding irons is here

-- The smell of wood, coffee in the cup, the wife let's me do my thing, the lake is peaceful. http://web.me.com/deceiver6/Deceiver/Craftsman_on_the_lake/Craftsman_on_the_lake.html

Thanks Daniel, some forums frown on posted links so I usually wait till asked.

-- Dan-- Info for all @ http://www.hoistman.com

Most of the time I use a vibrating type engraver….Name, date, and type of wood. The engraver works on all materials and are only about $20. I also mark my most of my tools with it in case they are stolen; name and drivers license or similar ID works (not SS #). Sometimes I use a marking pen and I seal both with a finish.

-- Les B, Oregon

I use a couple of branding irons from Rockler and also a wood burning iron. I have one branding iron with my company name, another with my initials, and I use the wood burning iron to date it. I noticed when I was watching a piece on TV about Sam Maloof that he had what kind of looked like a soldering gun tip and he was burning his signature in the bottom of the chairs. Not sure what type of device that was, but it looked like it worked really well.

-- Wayne - Plymouth MN