My Process
Every order starts the same, picking out the perfect piece of wood. This step can often be the longest part of the project! Once you place your order often times I will head to my local Home Depot store and spend up to an hour searching through all their wood to find the piece(s) that I need for your project. This is when it comes in handy to have my husband with me so he can hold the reject pile as I dig around.
Once I have found the piece I need I can get it home to start, for this blog I’ll use the Growth Charts for the process. With every piece of straight lumber I cut the ends off to give myself a nice clean cut to work with, then I can measure the length needed for each ruler. I start using my large t-square and make notches every inch, then I use my speed square to extend each line to varying lengths. Once the lines are traced I can start routering each line out, to get nice straight lines I clamp my t-square to the board. It may be a tedious process but it ensures nice straight lines!
Once all the lines are routered I can add the numbers for each foot, if the client requested names or a saying down the side now is the time I tackle both of those. Again I line everything up so it gives the growth chart a nice cohesive look. Once everything has been routered out I can start spray painting the piece.
Once the spray paint has had a chance to dry I can start the sanding process, by far the most tedious part of the piece. I start by using a 60 grit to get most of the excess paint off working my way up to at least 320, sometimes up to 400. After everything is sanded smooth I can begin the finishing stages, I start with using the stain the client picked out. After leaving it for several hours I will apply a sealer, giving it a nice finish. Lastly I add a hanging device to the back so it can be displayed for years to come.
