Personalized Wooden Plank

This is a Personalized Wooden Plank. A log was sourced, processed, flattened-ish, burned lettering, stained, and then secured in a concrete base. Made using basic tools for the basic woodsman wanderer. I used a bible verse as my main writing, but you may personalize it as you see fit.

1. Wood
2. Axe
3. Saw
4. Chisels
5. Sanding Paper
6. (optional) Drawknife. Could just use chisels, but I like the option of shaving off excess quickly.
7. (optional) Concrete. I like my planks to stand on their own.
8. (optional) Clamping grips. Makes it easier to hold the wood down when sawing.
9. (optional) Staining. I like the darkened appearance of the wood. Used Shellac.
10. (optional) Wood-Burning pen. Could just use paint.

I had originally intended to go the whole step of chopping down a tree and then cutting it to size, but you'll have to use your imagination with the log I selected that was previously gathered in this method. You'll need a log to size. Of course, you don't have to use raw unprocessed wood, but the rawness of the wood creates more natural curvature. In this initial phase, I used a japanese saw from harbor freight, some clamps to secure the wood to begin the cut, and finally an axe when I lost my patience cutting through the three inches of log with the saw.

Step 1. Select your Wewd

Step 2. Mark off the size you want your piece up to. I went for an eyeballed size. It's better to only initially cut one side as the length from the other side will all for an easier clamping situation or a handle generally speaking for any shaping.

Step 3. (optional) If sawing becomes too laborious, proceed to break wood in half.

This step has some minor details included that are not entirely necessary. Such as using a sharpie for marking, a makeshift railroad tie affixed with a clamping rod, & even a drawknife. I don't have a fancy table and fancy tie-down methods. I make due. The drawknife isn't necessary, but I prefer the quick shaving action as opposed to trying to hew it out longer by axe or solely using a chisel. Both options would work as well though.

Step 1. Mark the final height you intend your piece to be. Do not go straight into cutting if you are like me and have limited tools. It's best to leave the length initially for an easier shaping process.

Step 2. Secure the cut-off end down to your table of choice. I am using clamping rods that have been shoved into a railroad tie and, from there a throwaway piece of wood on top of it to distribute the compression down on the wood.'

Step 3. Begin shaving off the initial layer to get your working layer closer to flat.

Step 4. This step is Optional. While shaving down this piece with the drawknife I realized the knots had just too much density in it and I would have to hew the wood with an axe.

As mentioned previously, I had to use an axe to hew down some of the more bulbous knots that would not cut with a drawknife. You may not have this problem depending on the type of wood you use. Whether its store bought or just a better quality cut. However, I appreciate this process as hewing with an axe is immensely useful for shaping quickly. You will need an axe for this step.

Step 1. Hew the wood down until any knots or excessive material is brought to a minimum. This will greatly reduce the amount of work you have. Whether or not, it's optional, I highly recommend hewing as a normal practice for quick shaping.

So now that you have your wood piece mostly hewed down. It's now time to cut to the final length. Secure the wood piece down and proceed to cut. You'll notice there are two videos of me sawing the piece. Essentially, my saw kept getting gummed up in the wood. When this happens, you can clean off the teeth and oil your saw up. It should proceed to cut like butter again unless the teeth need sharpening. Lastly, you'll note I took an axe down the center of it width-wise to the face to get it down to a manageable board.

Step 1. Secure the piece down with clamps. You can do this by hand, it just takes more effort.

Step 2. Proceed to cut with the saw on the marked spot. If the saw gums up, brush the teeth and oil them with mineral oil.

Step 3. Using an axe to further hew down the piece to get a manageable board as opposed to a log with one flattish side.

Step 4. Admire mostly flat board.

Realize you messed up, get briefly angry, and start over again with Steps 1-4.

Okay, now that we've passed the initial steps we are on to the flatteningish phase as well as removing splinters. Personally, I like to leave these objects in the world for someone to keep. I try to make sure all splinters are removed as well as a mostly flat surface for writing on the phase. I don't try to flatten entirely, because then it would take away from the natural shape of the wood. You will need chisels and sandpaper in this step.

Step 1. Secure your new piece of wood to your table to chisel out any unsavory spots.

Step 2. Go ham and let the chisel waste away the excess. This is great for more precise removal.

Step 3. Once you have a mostly finished product, use a low grit sandpaper like 80 and begin to smooth out the material, switching up to higher grit as you prefer.

I used a bible verse on mine, as I like to leave a message out in the world for folks. You may personalize your wood plank as you see fit.

Step 1. Using a pencil, write out your personalized message. I find it easier this way when moving over to the woodburning pen.

Step 2. Turn on the woodburning pen and go to work over your traced-out message.

Step 3. Admire completed work. Looks amazing burned as opposed to written.

I like this step because it highlights the natural beauty of the wood. I used Shellac, which is kind of a varnish. It will make a form of seal on the wood that highlights its natural beauty. Highly recommended.

Step 1. Procure your varnish, open, put the brush tray, and put a generous amount of oil on the brush.

Step 2. Apply oil-dense brush onto wood piece.

Step 3. Allow to dry. Wipe off excess. If necessary you can use high grit paper to sand down any high spots of varnish.

Admittedly, Concrete is not my Forte. I struggle immensely with this step and it isn't necessary if you are content with your wood plank, but as mentioned before, I like my personalized planks to stand upright.

Step 1. Get a mold and pour concrete into it.

Step 2. Add an appropriate amount of water.

Step 3. Place plank into concrete (just FYI, this almost never works for me, I've only had one successful attempt. Often I repair it with super glue :( I think the biggest problem is the size of the mold I use. You should consider a depth of 3 inches at least. Don't be discouraged though.)

Step 4. Adorn as you like and allow to dry.

Okay, you definitely don't have to do this step, but congratulations if you've made it this far! Let's be real here, you've had to gather your wood, prep it, hew it, chisel it, sand it, Woodburn it, varnish it, and finally set it in a mold. That's pretty impressive. I like to share my stuff, throw it in your mom's garden without telling her. On a sidewalk with an uplifting message, whatever. Enjoy.