Wood Burning Signs

On our property, we have various features that we’ve created. When people come for retreats, we show them around the property at the beginning so they know where the Wildflower Spiral, the Cedar Circle, the Old Woman (a pre-Civil War oak), the Grounding Rock, and other features are located.

My husband often uses colored ribbons or sticks to mark things around the property. Unfortunately, he’s the only one who understands his marking system. I’ve had the idea for some time to create signs to put at the entrance of each of these features. So this Christmas, I decided this would make a great Christmas gift for my husband Dave.

I watched a video on how to do wood burning and bought the items the woman in the video suggested.

Wood Burning Process

Obtaining the Wood. I went to Home Depot and told one of their associates what I was trying to do. He led me to two 24″ x 24″ pieces of plywood type board. He offered to cut it for me for free, so that was great. He cut each board into 8ths (each sign ended up being 6″ x 12″). Then he pointed me to a 12-pack of wooden stakes to attach to the board.

Preparing the Wood. First, you need to sand the wood so it’s smooth. I bought an orbital sander on Amazon for this job. It came with three grades of sandpaper. I used the grades on the wood, one after the other from roughest to finest. I had a pair of protective goggles to wear, and I bought a reusable respirator mask to protect myself from dust and fumes. I didn’t worry about getting mine to a polished level since I was creating outdoor signs, not some kind of household decoration.

Creating Your Design. After the wood is prepared, you’re ready to put your design onto the wood. It’s easiest to come up with a design on your computer and print it out. You could purchase designs on places like Etsy. Mine needed to be customized to our property, so I created my design using Canva.

Transferring the Design to the Wood. Once you have your design, put carbon paper under your design, and then tape the design + carbon paper to the wood. I bought some carbon paper at Office Depot. Their online price was about half as much as the in-store price. So I went to the store and got them to price match by showing them their online price. I used a pen to trace the design and let the carbon paper transfer the design onto the wood.

Burning the Wood. Once the design is on the wood, you’re ready to burn the image. I bought a super basic wood burner from Michaels for $19. I wish I’d gotten one with more point sizes. The one I got only had a pen-point. It did the job, but I could get more sophisticated in the future by buying more tips or a better wood burner.

The best protective gear I bought were finger guards on Amazon. The wood burner got too hot not to be wearing protective gear. I started out wearing the respirator while burning the wood, but that got annoying and the fumes weren’t that intense. But those finger guards were priceless! I don’t know how I could have done this big of a job without the finger guards.

Even as hot as the wood burner got, I’m not sure it was quite hot enough. Some of the grain sections in the wood didn’t burn that well. It’s possible the wood I bought might have been fire treated, and the guy at Home Depot didn’t realize that. The lighter sections of the wood burned well, but the darker ones were really time consuming to burn. If it wasn’t the wood, then I may need a better wood burner.

Treating the Wood

A guy in the paint department of Home Depot recommended Varathane Ultimate Spar Urethane (An oil based clear gloss) to protect the signs. He suggested I use sponges for this job and I’m glad I did. There is no washing that stuff out of a brush without using some kind of special cleaner. So I threw away the little sponge brushes after using them.

The best thing I found to get the gloss off my hands was some Solumel from Melaleuca. It cut through the stickiness. I coated the front of the signs one day, let the signs dry overnight, and then coated the backside the next day.

Assembly

The biggest mistake I made was thinking I could nail the signs to the stakes. The nail cracked the wood, and I busted a stake. So I went to Ace and bought some perfectly sized screws … which were way more expensive than I anticipated ($9+ for 20 screws). They must have been made of pure silver. No idea why they were so much. I didn’t realize they were that pricey until I was checking out and didn’t feel like going back to find out why they were $.46 each.

I took about a week completing this process, spending a couple hours each day on it. The first couple days I created the images and transferred them onto the boards. Then I burned 2-3 signs each day for 3 more days. The treating and assembly took another couple days.

Overall it was a fun project. My wrists and hands did cramp up quite a bit while burning the wood. I think if I had a better wood burner, it might have been easier. I can’t say for sure.

Best of all, on Christmas morning, Dave loved his gift! Making these signs for him made this Christmas one of the best I’ve ever had. It was a labor of love.