American Flag Wood Sign

I had been eyeballing an American Flag Wood Sign for quite some time.  I first searched Etsy and about doubled over at the price + shipping.  Suddenly I had the bright I idea to make one. I mean, how hard could it be? After all, I would be saving around $100+.

If your intention is resale I recommend creating all of your boards at once, it took over my kitchen and family room for a week.  The cost will be about $10-$12 per board after your factor in the wood, 2 colors of stain, polyurethane, wood stars and screws. This was my cost for making 24 boards using Furring Strips.

I purchased these Furring Strips from Lowe’s.  They are $7.00 for a pack of six 1″x2″x 8′ resulting two American Flag Wood Signs. Make sure you inspect the wood and avoid any bundles that are warped or bent.

Steps | American Flag Wood Sign

Step 1: Cut the strips into  36″ lengths

Step 2: Stain.  For the dark strips I used Minwax Dark Walnut (my favorite!) and for the light strips, I used Minwax Ipswich Pine.  If you are going to make several of them I recommend purchasing the quarts of stain.  I made sure to wipe off any excess stain and let them dry overnight.

Step 3: Place glue along bottom and top of the strip and glue strips together.  I used a Clutch bar clamp to hold everything in place and let dry overnight.

Step 4: Measure 12″-13″ out from the left side of the flag and tape off.  This is where you will need to make the area where you place the stars all the same color.  Because you have alternating boards some of them will already be stained the lighter color, therefore, you need to go over them with the dark stain. additionally, you need to make sure you have 7 boards that are stained the dark color.

Steps | American Wood Flag Continued

 

Step 5: Optional to seal your board with Polyurethane

Step 6: Once the stain is dry it’s time to get working on the stars.  I was initially going to use a star sponge and have the stars be white, but I stumbled upon these 1” Wood Stars. What I like about these stars is that they have some thickness to them, they are not paper thin like the others I have seen.  Use wood glue to place them and scrape off extra when dry, then lightly go over the stars with poly.

Step 7: For the back side of the board use the remnants from your furring strips to prevent the board from curling at the top and bottom.   Initially,  I used thin ruler type strips, as a result, they were not heavy duty enough and the board began to bend at the top and bottom. Finally, screw these boards into the back of the American Wood Flag Sign using appropriate length screws.

Step 8: Lastly, attach hardware to hang the board.

Wire: The Hillman Group 121110 Picture Hanging Wire

Heavy Duty Picture Holder: 50 Extra Heavy Duty 2 Hole D Ring / Triangle Picture Frame Hanger Wiseacresart

For the most part this is a fun little project, but can get messy with stain and poly, so make sure you wear gloves! In conclusion, these are great to give as gifts and for the past two years I have brought them to White Elephant Christmas parties and they are always a hit!

The finished American Flag Wood sign will be 36″x21.5″

 

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