Ever want one of those wooden American flags?  Why not make one yourself?  That's what I'm doing and I'd like to share the process with your in EXCRUCIATING detail.  So, I apologize in advance for the severe detail.  It's rather severe.
Â
Step 1: Do the union first (the part with the stars).
See, that was a pretty easy step. Â Now, let's break it down.
Â
Step 1a: Start with a big block of wood.

This is a piece of maple from CPJohnson Lumber in Culpeper, Va. Â It started off as a 12-inch wide, 1-inch thick board about 24-inches long. Â This is the same piece that was used for both the rear and door for the first aid kit in previous posts.
Â
Step 1b: Trim the board width below 12-inches so that it will fit on the jointer. Â In this case, the final dimensions of the union will be 11-9/16 inches by 16-11/32 inches. Â I am therefore, trimming this board to 11-9/16 inches wide. Â To do this, I first joint one edge to get it pretty straight (it can't be really really straight due to the fact that the faces are still rough cut). Â I then trim the other edge on the table saw slightly wider than 11-9/16. Â I now have one really square edge and a pretty square edge. Â I flip the board over and trim the pretty square edge to 11-9/16 inches and the board is the proper width and it's narrower than the 12 inches that my jointer can handle. Â Simple, no?
Â
Step 1c: Use the jointer to get a flat face on one side of the board. Â

This is actually a really simple step. Â You just run the board over the jointer until all of the rough spots are gone and the board sits flat on the jointer table.
Â
Step 1d: Â Make the other face of the board straight and parallel to the one just jointed.Â

Another relatively simple step. Â I run the board through the planer using the jointed face as a guide. Â I do this until all of the rough surface is gone. Â My jointer leaves a slightly more "machined" surface than the planer, so I flip the board over to smooth out that side too. Â Just keep going until the board is the thickness you want. Â In this case, I got it down to 0.80 inches.
Â
Step 1f: Â Layout the stencil. Â

I have a star stencil (really, who doesn't?). Â I use the calipers to get it just right. Â Measurements for the top-bottom positioning are taken from the center of the stars. Â I use the calipers ALL of the time. Â They're a truly helpful woodworking tool.
Â
Step 1g: Â Spray the board with white paint.

Huh? Â What? Â Why spray it with white paint? Â This took me a bit to figure out, but here goes. Â The overall plan is for the stars to be raised and the surrounding blue area to be carved out. Â This way, after I carve out the background, I can run my sander over the surface and take any paint off. Â Maple is such a nice, light colored wood, it looks best when the background is painted blue and the stars are natural wood.
Â
So, why the white paint, then? Â Well, I use the blue paint later to lay out the stars. Â It's much more accurate and much quicker than tracing the stars by hand (I've done this, believe me). Â when I do the final clean-up sanding of the star surface, if there are any little cracks in the wood that get filled with paint, I don't want that paint to be any color other than white. Â By spraying white first, any little cracks get filled in with white. Â The blue sits on top. Â See?Â
Â
Step 1h: Â Spray the wood with blue paint


The blue paint provides an accurate layout for the stars. Â I know it looks like an inverse union, but that's mainly just a coincidence that I had some blue paint laying around. Â The white needs to be white (see above), but the other color just needs to be something contrasting.
Â
Step 1i: Â Cut the board down to final size.

Â
Â

This is another straight-forward step. Â I measured and cut.
Step 1j: Â Begin to cut out stars. Â Basically, I outline the star using a bench chisel, then go back and begin removing material. Â This process continues until the stars are raised well above the background.
Here's what the stars look like up close. Â This is still pretty rough. Â Part of the process is to keep carving out the background and smoothing the area between the stars.

Step 1k: Â After the sample star, outline the rest of the stars. Â

When cutting the background of one star, it's imperative to not cut into another star's blue area. Â If the wood happens to splinter, a large chunk could split out of the surface. Â By outlining all of the stars first, this is MUCH less likely to happen. Â It's also important to cut the lines of each star in the proper order. Â Do the lines that run parallel to the wood grain last. Â All of the other lines are cutting the grain of the wood. Â Where the lines are parallel to the wood grain, the chisel is basically pushing between the grains (there's still some cutting, but a lot of pushing too). Â This causes the wood to split on either side of the chisel as well. Â
Â
Here's a photo of why this is important. Â Look at the left side of the chisel. Â You can see where the wood is splitting -- of course, this is in the area that will be cut away, so it doesn't matter. Â On the right side of the chisel, the wood is already cut which prevents it from splitting.

 Step 1l:  Begin removing material.

I went around and began removing material around all of the stars. Â It's still quite rough, but will clean up nicely. Â You'll see.
Â
So, there's almost an entire union now and all in just one step. Â Stay tuned for more updates and progress.
Â
Oh, and if you're still reading, thank you. Â
Â
Â
Recent Posts
Archive
Tags
I'm busy working on my blog posts. Watch this space!