So, this is my first post on my DIY blog. Here is a project I just completed. I was in a pinch so instead of looking around for old wood to reclaim, I just bought some ~1 inch thick boards at Home Depot. It is the wood you find in the fencing section. I brought them home and drilled a series of very small holes, all in a row where I wanted the wood to break. The holes I drilled were about 1/2 inches apart. This took about an hour total to drill all the holes.
Then comes the fun part.
Once I had drilled my holes, I set a piece of wood on my cement steps and "karate chopped" them with my leg until they broke. Your wood might split vertically - mine did a couple times too. Thats ok, it just adds to the shabby look.
Once all my wood was chopped all jagged-like, I used 1 1/2 inch nails and nailed the wood together.
The next step is to sand. Sand like crazy. You've got some dangerous sharp points on this wood - try to sand those off if possible. Then sand the front and the edges of your sign.
I then stained my sign with an oil based dark stain. If I could do it over, I would probably have gone with a water based stain, because oil based stains do not come off your paintbrush. I applied two coats of stain, sanding the front of the sign really well in between coats, so that the second coat would stick. The stain I used took about 24 hours to dry fully. This amount of time was probably partially due to the fact that it was about 20 degrees outside.
The last step is your lettering. I designed this in photoshop and then emailed a dozen vinyl lettering places to make sure I got the best price. The BEST, easiest, most affordable, and most customer-friendly vinyl shop to work with was Painted Pony Lettering. Seriously. Check them out. They're amazing. And so nice. After I applied the vinyl, here was my finished product:
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