Idea

This was actually an idea from the amazingly talented April Wilkerson. I highly recommend her YouTube channel as she makes a lot of fun and interesting projects. Perhaps one day I’ll be at her level…

 

Build

Slimmed some pine down to a 6.5′ 1×8 using a planer and a table saw. I measured inch increments on some scrap pine and made a router jig. Using a straight bit and some clamps, it was simple (but tedious) work to cut all the lines out of the large board.

To cut the numbers, I found an interesting font and printed up some stencils on regular printer paper. These were cut out using very sharp chisels, the router’s straight bit, and a lot of patience.

I painted the entire board black then sanded the top. This kept everything under the surface black while showing the natural wood grain on top. It was finished with a few coats of some wipe on polyurethane with light sanding between.

 

Lessons

It would have helped to apply clear coat prior to covering the board in black paint. This would have prevented minor bleeding on the final product.