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Rustic Heart Sign: a DIY for Beginners

February 8, 2024

Items needed


Instructions

cutting pallet with circular saw

Step One

Use your circular saw to cut planks off the pallet. Try to get as close to the edge as possible without hitting it. You’ll need to press the safety in with your thumb while pulling the trigger to start up the saw.

sanding planks of wood with a sander

Step Two (Optional – but recommended)

Pallets are notoriously very splittery. We recommend sanding the corners and edges to prevent the wood from biting you during the assembly process.

Depending on the look you’re going for and the material being used, you can also smooth out the surfaces of the planks.

adding glue to a piece of particle board

Step Three

Once you have enough pieces to cover your particleboard or plywood, you want to glue the planks down with wood glue. Let the glue dry for about 15 minutes before starting step four.

using a nail gun to attach planks to board

Step Four

You want to make sure everything stays in place, so use your nail gun to secure the planks to the board.

Make sure to remove the safety tip before starting and change the setting to “Single Fire” mode. Press the tip of the nail gun to your plank, press in the safety, and squeeze the trigger to fire one nail. We ended up doing two rows per plank with 4 in each row (a total of 8 nails per plank).

mount the project with clamps

Step Five

Mark out your heart shape and mount your project to a worktable or surface where you have space and leverage to maneuver your jigsaw. It’s important that this be steady and secure, so we used two C-clamps.

using a jigsaw to cut out the shape

Step Six

Now the fun (and hard and most difficult) part! Use your jigsaw the cut out your shape. Like the circular saw and nailer, our jigsaw has a safety button you’ll need to press while pulling the trigger.

You’ll need to readjust your projects and clamps as you move around the sides.

adding hooks to hang out the project

Step Eight

If you’re planning on hanging your rustic heart sign, you’ll need to attach some hardware. We used two metal circle hooks at the top.

If your wood is soft enough, you should be able to screw these in by hand, otherwise, use a drill and a similarly sized bit to make a pilot hole.

completed heart shaped sign

Step Nine

You made it this far, great job! After all your hard work, it’s finally time to decorate.

Using plain acrylic paint we had on hand, we wrote out our house number. This heart can also be left plain, sanded and stained, painted completely, or even other writings, such as you see on conversation heart candies.

We also had a few picks of greenery and sola wood flowers handy – of course, we had to use those.

heart shaped sign on door

Step Ten

Finally, all done. Now all you have to do is decide where to hang this cute rustic heart you created.


We hope you enjoyed our quick tutorial to make a rustic heart sign using scrap or recycled wood you may have on hand. Using power tools for the first time can be intimidating and a little scary. We always recommend watching videos before or if possible, having an experienced user there with you to provide useful tips along the way. There’s nothing more rewarding than looking at your completed project and saying, “I did that!”, especially when it’s something you’ve never tried before. This rustic heart project was done by myself, a power-tool newbie, with guidance from our in-house power-tool professional. I’ll leave you with one final PINK tip-

@theoriginalpinkbox

Learn how to make a simple rustic heart sign to expand your knowledge and practice using various power tools. You can view the full tutorial on our website: theoriginalpinkbox.com/blog/ #pinkpowertools #theoriginalpinkbox #crafty

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