Chalkboards! ... Part 1

There lies a fine line between “craft” and “woodworking”. Many times, I am not sure where a project falls. As this project required minimal use of the router and table saw, I’m going to call it “woodworking”. Though, I am well aware that one could easily do this without either tool and achieve similar results.

It started, as many projects do, with Holly and I browsing through our local big box store. She was looking for something to go one the wall. It had to be framed. The frame needed to be distressed. It had to cover a substantial area, therefore it had to be big. One must be able to write on it. We looked at many different items. Everyone we found had a steep price tag. Fifty bucks, seventy-five, a hundred! We could build one ourselves…she said! This soon translated into “Kevin will build it in his shop!” To her credit, she had planned on helping, but I took over.

First, the materials. It turned out that I already had most of the materials needed. I had a 24” x 48” piece of ¼ inch hardwood plywood, primer and brushes, dark stain, various lengths of 2” poplar, and some molding which turned out not to be usable as it had already been finished.

A quick trip over to 3BS (Big Blue Box Store) to get some pine lumber, a second can of stain in a lighter color, and some chalkboard paint.

First we had to prepare the plywood.  Fortunately, one side was already pre-finished (i.e.: sanded smooth) the only real sanding was where the price tag was. A couple of minutes with 150 grit paper knocked off any rough spots.

Next a single coat of primer was painted onto the surface. I used Zinsser latex primer, but any similar product would work.

Latex Primer going on

First Coat Done

The instructions said to wait 4 hours before adding a second coat. In my case it was a week between coats as I started this before heading out the door.

 

As the project sat for a week in my shop, I decided to wipe it down with mineral oil. This was to remove any dust which may have settled on the surface. I would not recommend this practice if you only wait the minimum time between coats. Always refer to the instructions on the can for maximum curing time.

Chalkboard paint going on

First coat chalkboard paint done.

It would take a total of four coats to get a good coverage of the board.

About this time, a decision was made to reduce the size of the project from 24" x 48" plus frame to 24” x 30” plus frame. Furthermore the frame width would also be reduced from 2.5 inches wide down to ¾” wide.

I decided to wait on trimming down the chalkboard and moved on to the frame.

We decided to go with pine for the frame instead of the originally planned poplar. In researching ways to distress the frame I found four different methods to try. Unsure which would yield the best result, I took a scape piece of pine and made 8 sample finishes. Four had a base color of Mahogany and four with a base color of Chestnut.

sample finishes

As Holly studied the sample finishes, I began constructing the frame.

Cutting boards down to proper length.

A pass through the router to cut a
3/4" wide x 1/4" deep rabbet.

A Rip cut to reduce the exposed frame
 to 3/4 inch wide

All four sides went through the same process. Next I trimmed the chalkboard down to 30" long. I taped off the cutting line with painter's tape and made a single pass across the table saw. I forgot to take a picture.

Now it was time for the dry fit.

All the joints look good, Ready for stain and glue.

Distressing the frame and final glue up will have to wait till next week.

Until then,

Kevin