Posted this on the bwca facebook group, but Im so darned excited about it I wanted to share it here as well.

I have been wanting to do this project for quite a while and what better time than while stuck at home hiding from the 'rona?

I don’t have much experience in woodworking and I’m sure there are easier ways to do some of this, but I am extremely happy with how it turned out. It’s now proudly displayed in my garage! I also made a smaller version for somewhere in my house / basement.

Very nice BigBear. To me it seems like it turned out near perfect.

Really nice job... makes me feel like I’m there!

That is really cool!

I saw your post on FB and like others am impressed! What size of plywood did you start with? Did you just freehand the writing?

I have some marine plywood in the garage leftover from my oldest's Eagle project and this would be a good way to use a chunk....

Thanks!

I had a 2x8 chunk of a nice 3/4" maple plywood left over from a bench I made last fall. Its just been taking up space in my garage so I used that.

The larger version of the sign I made is about 3' tall.

I googled for quite a while to find the perfect, crisp and clear straight-on photo of a BWCA sign. Cropped it down, then enlarged it to the size I wanted it. Printed, it was on 12 - 8.5x11 tiled sheets that I trimmed down with a paper cutter, then meticulously taped together to make sure all the seams were clean. Once I had the entire image, I taped this onto my plywood, then painstakingly used a push pin to mark around the perimeter of each letter. Once the pattern was transferred I removed the paper and I played an adult version of connect the dots to make the complete pattern.

Then for the router - it was like the most intense game of Operation that I have ever played, but yes, all free hand. I toyed with the idea of creating some sort of guide or jig, but wasnt able to find anything helpful, especially with the relatively free flowing fonts. And I was most nervous about the cursive for 'National Forest' but that was actually the easiest part.

Awesome! Thanks for the details. That'll make my own version a little easier to craft.

That's some impressive freehand routing. I can hear the old Operation commercial now: "It takes a very steady hand..."

Nice work!

That's great! Really nice job, made me feel like I was looking at the real thing. Now you just need to start making them for the different EP's and you could sell them for a living. :)

I know I would buy them...

So, if you put that in the yard: anyone going by better have a permit!

Can I hire you to do a bunch of $50 bills for me? Just kiddin'. Great replica and project!

Any plans on making and selling, I'd buy one!

Great job but be careful, the Feds may think you stole it.

Diego: "Any plans on making and selling, I'd buy one!"

I'd buy one as well. A great gift for my oldest daughter.

John

That looks great!! I don't think I would have the patience to complete such a project.

Thanks to BigBearArlich for helping me out and getting me the paint colors for this sign. I just finished mine up this weekend and am pretty happy with it.

Looks great! Nice work!

Looks good! I saw what I think is maybe one of the folks from the True North map company making and selling these now? They were also using router, but sounds like they have a machine to help now. So you may see more for sale here soon (unless this is you...) haha

I see ones like above for sale on Etsy.

The sign I saw on our trip this summer, though, looked like this

Im that guy!

USFS signs have changed over time. The oldest ones were made of wood, and had the full text "Boundary Waters Canoe Area" on the top, brown and cream colors. You can still find a few of these out there, but they are being replaced over time.

Then they changed the text to "B.W.C.A. Wilderness", still made of wood, kept the same colors. Some of these are still out there as well.

And the most modern version has the same "B.W.C.A. Wilderness" text, but are now made of some plastic composite, possibly PVC, and the colors have changed to the grey and black that you saw on your trip this summer.

Fonts have also changed slightly as well.

There are some cool "Canoe Route" signs in some locations, and there also used to be Portage signs. Im a USFS sign junkie, soon my whole house will be covered in signs!

Nice Job. I wish I had the time for a project like that.

Drab: "I see ones like above for sale on Etsy.


The sign I saw on our trip this summer, though, looked like this



"

Like BigBearArlich said, the sign you have in your pic is the "newer" version that you see almost everywhere in the BWCA. Call me old school, but theres something about the maroon and cream old school color scheme that I just love. So thats the color scheme I went with for this project. Also, "BWCA" is a lot less letters to route than "Boundary Waters Canoe Area" :)

Here is one of the old school signs "in the wild"