Okay, here is the final project. Thanks again to everyone who contributed ideas in my earlier threads. I decided "in for a penny, in for a pound" and went with the more complicated font. The results aren't perfect, but it turned out better than I had expected. It took me around 6 hours to do all the carving. The finish is a few coats of water based satin polyurethane.
I learned a lot from this first go:
1. A sharp knife is just as important as everyone says, and my knife was never sharp. I am planning on looking up the local carving club for some hands-on lessons.
2. This is related to the first, but my hand isn't as strong as it will need to be. By the end, any improvements from learning the tricks of the font were lost to a tired, unsteady hand.
3. Sprayed finish has a hard time getting all the way into the bottom of the deep v's. I may think about using a small brush to hit the deep spots before spraying next time.
4. Zeroes look easy, but they are tough to carve.
5. Letter carving is cool, and I will be doing more.
Any comments or criticisms are welcome, I'd like to figure out how to do better next time. Thanks for looking!
Bart
P.S. The fuzzy kid in the one picture was the first addition to the Sharp family.