How to | Creating a sign using pallet wood

Merry Christmas! Giving personalized gifts is something I look forward to every year and this year was no exception! I made this pallet sign for my in laws and I am finally able to post it! Enjoy!

After disassembling your pallet, cut your wood planks down to the desired length. I chose 26" length planks. Each of my pallet planks I left the original width. They are about 3" in width. I did not straighten or sand up the rough edges because I wanted a more rustic feel. After you have cut down the length, lay them out the way you want them UPSIDE DOWN.

Next, cut down wood the width of your wood planks. I had some 1/4" wood laying around that I cut down. I cut mine down using a miter saw, but feel free to use whatever type of saw you have on hand. Next, drill pilot holes just slightly smaller than the screws you will be using. These holes are drilled all the way through your connector wood planks (light wood above). It is not necessary to drill pilot holes in your actual sign planks.

Using appropriate depth screws, start attaching the connector wood planks to the sign planks below. Be sure you are making sure to keep your sign planks tightly together or you'll be left with gaps between planks.

This is what your sign will look like from the back once you have connected all planks.

There are a variety of hanging hardware out there, but these are my personal favorite. These can be purchased at any local hardware store.

Following installation instructions, attach hanging hardware to the back of the sign on the connector planks. If you attached your hanging hardware directly to your sign, there is a chance you won't be able to reach the screw or nail you place in the wall.

Next, flip over your sign and sand away any roughness, making the surface much easier to paint.

Adding verbiage to your sign can be done in numerous ways such as freehand, stenciling, decals, and transferring. I chose the transferring method because my freehand painting is a disaster. The method I used requires you to print on paper the verbiage you want transferred, a lead pencil, tape and a ball point pen.

Once you cut out your verbiage, flip them over and with a heavy hand use the lead pencil to coat the backs of the paper. The more lead, the better and darker the results. I could have gone much heavier.

Flip over your lead backed paper and secure it with tape where you want your verbiage to be on the wood.

Next, trace all edges of the letters with a ball point pen and fill in if desired for darker results. This pressure will transfer the lead to the wood in the areas pressure is applied. Continue this process with all words.

Once I was finished, I retraced all words with the lead pencil, but this isn't necessary if your satisfied with the darkness of the transfer.

Next, paint your letters and hang!