Reclaimed Wood Sign Tutorial

Where the heck have I been?  Busy!  I’ve got loads of Trash to share with you, but today I am going to show you how to make this amazing Reclaimed Wood Sign FOR FREE. 

We (Suffering Husband and myself + 3 children) are HUGE House of Blues Fans (mostly the food and the awesome music coming from any of their establishments).  For some time now we thought it would be so cool to have a sign that said “House of Bergs” based on the “House of Blues” logo.

Materials to Make a Reclaimed Wood Sign

This summer, I FINALLY had some time to work on it.  What started with a giant piece of wood I was going to paint the logo onto somehow morphed into using my old barn wood and fence boards.  I decided to go this route because, well, basically I LOST the Giant square piece of wood I was planning to use.  How one loses something that large?  It’s a mystery, but I am good at that sort of thing.

To make one yourself, it is pretty simple.  Here’s how it goes:  Find some scrap wood in your garage (pretend studio) for the base.  I had 2 large pieces of luon so I figured it was better to use these than buy a new piece of wood.

Pull the boards off your existing fence. NO! Don’t do that. BUT, old Fence Boards are awesome for all kinds of scrap wood projects. You can find them often on FB Marketplace, for free or for sale. Select enough boards that look decent and decide how big you want your sign to be.  Lay the boards out for a “dry fit”, then turn them over and number them so you will know which order to put them back together in.

O.K., seriously, this pic was super blurry, and I did my best to doctor it up.  It could double as a Big Foot Sighting Photo…..

Measure the boards where they will be cut.  You can use a chop saw or a hand saw.  Chop saw will save you a lot of time.  If you don’t have one, find a friend who does. Or if you are the type that likes extra work, grab a saw and cut the scrap wood by hand. It can be done!

Check out my video to see EXACTLY how to make this sign and you can see how a real pro gets it done.  Haha.

How to Put together Scrap Wood for your Sign

Sand the boards with a power sander, but just a little, you still want to retain the rustic look.  Don’t bother sanding the back, no one will see it.  (Just pick the bugs off like I did).

DON’T DO THIS NEXT PART – READ FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT

Next, lay out your back board and spread wood glue all over it.  Put your boards back on and weight them down.  Wait several hours and find out that none of them stuck because the backs were so dirty and rough that even Gorilla Wood Glue could not hold them.

A better way to secure your wood together for your scrap wood sign

I ended doing this backwards, I put the boards down first, face down, and positioned the back board onto it.  I secured each piece of wood to the board in about 6-8 places using 3/4″ screws.  Because I was planning to hang this, I added another piece of MDF and heavy picture wire.  You can skip this step if your sign is just going to lean.

How to Trace a Custom Design for your Scrap Wood – Reclaimed Wood Sign

Carefully turn the sign over and you are ready for the painting magic.  I used a projector (I have a pico pocket projector) but you can get a decent one for quite cheap now.

It’s dark because you have to make sure your room is dark to be able to see what you are tracing, unless it is a small thingy.

Use chalk to trace the image, then fill in with paint. 

Painting your Reclaimed Wood or Scrap Wood Sign Design

I used a mixture of acrylic paints, paints I had on hand, my favorite DIY Paint to fill in and a Paint Pen in White to make all the letters and outline pop.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t spend A LOT of time standing around admiring how the House of Bergs sign looks in my Family room.  In fact, I have to mention it to someone in my family just about every day how good it looks……

You can make this!  Just take out part of that old fence you have been meaning to replace, this will just speed up the process…..