Give Me a Sign

We've all seen wood burnt signs at mall kiosks and craft fairs.  The signs proudly announce family names like this one.

Everytime I come across one of those booths, I think, "We need one of those for when we go camping," but have never bought one.  For those of you who have never been camping, there's normally a wood post with the site number on it at the entrance of each campsite.  Putting out a family name sign is akin to announcing an open door policy, it says, "We're friendly and won't mind if your kids chase their frisbee through our site."  As you know, we'll be camping this weekend, and the funny thing about writing a blog is that it pushes you to complete projects that you've been wanting to do.  So along with the camping gear inventory that I've been doing this week, I also whipped this fun sign up.

I can't decide whether or not I should leave it just words or if I should burn some fishing poles or lacrosse sticks on it.  Here's where it started.  I found a scrap chunk of 2x10 in the garage.

I wanted a rustic look, so I didn't bother filling in the line of screw holes.  Instead I hit it with enough saw cuts to look like a deranged beaver had gotten a hold of it, hit it with a hammer to get some dents, and chiseled at the edges.

After a quick pass with a sanding block to take care of any splintery edges, I printed out some script and tested for size.

After cutting out the letters with an exacto knife(this would have been WAY easier with a Silhouette machine,) I traced around the insides with a sharpie marker.

I removed the paper template when all the letters had been outlined,

and pulled out my woodburning tool.  I bought this a few years ago when we made a perpetual calendar for my parents' 40th anniversary.

I outlined the letters with a detail tip,

and burned out the middles with a flat tip.  If you don't want to give yourself a nasty burn, you have to let the tool completely cool before changing out the tips.

I brushed on some cherry stain that I had on hand, and sealed it with a couple coats of spray on polyurethane.  I didn't worry about getting the stain perfectly even, because I was going for a rustic weathered look.

I needed a way to hang it from the post, and we had these safety cup hooks left from another project.  Eyescrews would have worked well, too.

I drilled pilot holes,

and hand screwed the cup hooks in.

Here she is all finished and ready for her debut camping trip.  Not bad for $0, right?  I love when I can complete a project without running out to buy anything.

Thanks for popping in and DIYing with me.  Don't forget to come back tomorrow for my Before Blogging Throwback Thursdays linkup party.