I've got barn wood...now what??

[bubbantenn]

A member of my church who reconstructs old barns and other old buildings has given me quite a bit of 1 to 4 foot sections of old pieces anywhere from 4 to 14 inches wide that were left lying around. There is some cedar, some poplar, but mostly oak.
Most of the time I use barn wood for making frames, pie safes, and blanket chests, etc. My question is, what the heck can I make with it using a scroll saw? The texture is so rough and porous that it is almost impossible to keep it flat on the table of my scroll saw.
To me, barn wood is something to be treasured and I don't want to waste this opportunity. I've though about planing the backside so it would lie flat on my table and in that way use it to make some crosses. I bet they would be beautiful. But then, how would you glue the pattern to the wood??
Any suggestions or ideas would be very welcomed.
If I had a digital camera I would post some pictures of the old wood and whatever it turns out to be. Perhaps I will borrow one until I can afford one.

God bless!!

Bubba

[Pajaro]

Glue the pattern to a thin cardboard then tape with clear tape on the wood. Might work, But I have never tried it.

[texaswoodworker]

I agree with Pajaro but insted of cardboard you could use plywood. then when your done you will have a barnwood and a plywood cross

[miniwoodworker]

Make picture frames with the smaller widths.

Mount a scrolled piece from another wood onto the barn board.

Stack cut - 1/8"-1/4" top, barnboard, another 1/8"- 1/4" on bottom. Tape the "sandwich" together with blue tape. Attach pattern on top of tape. For the bottom piece you may want to use scrap, if the backside of the barnboard is rough. Might not get great results with the bottom piece.

Scroll the outside edges of the barnboard to use it for signs. Cut the sign letters or use brass letters or numbers.

FWIW, I like the rough character of those boards, too. That's why I like keeping as much of the board intact, as possible for the project, such as making house number signs.

Hope this is food for thought.

[bubbantenn]

Yep, lots of food for thought here. I like the idea of coming up with a barn wood project and a plywood project at the same time. Whatever I decide to do I'm going to use an easier pattern first to see how things turn out. If it works, I'll try something a bit more intricate. I'll post whatever I come up with.

Bubba

[honeycow]

I have made a few projects with barnboard. One was a sleigh that held a wine bottle. It was a little difficult to cut out because it was a little warped but i used a simple pattern and traced the lines on. I lined the seat of the sleigh with red velvet and put on a small pointsettia flower on the side. I t was very well received by the farmer friend who got it as a gift, especially since he knew the barnboard was authentic. Another thing I've done it use it as a background for scroll projects. One in particulat that comes to mind is a scroll of a horse. With the barnboard in the background it really looks neat. Wish iI could send pics to show youbut most of what I make is given as gifts and I don't have anything here to take a picture of but hopefully I've given you a few ideas. Connie

[sawdustus]

Step 1.... use a metal detector to locate and then remove any hidden nails, horseshoes etc. before you even think of working with it.

If you are going to hang your cutting on a wall, or make picture frames from the wood, either joint or belt sand one side smooth and flat so it will lie flat on your saw table. I would then tape the pattern to the rough side with the tape running over the edges and finishing on the back (smooth) side and then cut it out.

george

[miniwoodworker]

Good point, George! You never know what's been nailed, stapled, or tacked to those boards. Someone may have even shot at the barn or the tree that produced the boards.

Another is to try to reduce surface dirt as much as possible before machining. For the back side, a stiff wire brush or a good sanding, followed by a blast of air from the compressor will help. For the front, wire brush as much as you can without destroying the patina and thoroughly blowing it off. Embedded sand/dirt is almost as rough on blades as nails.

[bubbantenn]

Again, thanks for all of the good tips, especially the safety tips i.e. nails, staples, buckshot, etc. I have used barn wood before and I am well aware (after ruining a set of knives on my planer) that they are even things below the surface that can destroy your tools.
Another thing I've learned is that the dust from barn wood can make you very sick, especially if it is wood from an old chicken coop. The dust from dried chicken dung has been known to make people so sick that they died.
One idea I've been toying with is reversing the image and gluing it to the back side after it has been smoothed enough to glue a pattern to and using a reverse tooth blade. After that I would use a piece of 1/4 inch plywood on the front (using packing tape to secure it) to give the wood a level, flat surface. My thought is that in this way the image will come out looking "right" on the front of the wood. That is, literally cutting the image backward from back to front.
I finish up VBS at my church today, so next week I plan on giving my idea of cutting an image in reverse a shot. I'll post a pic of how it turns out.
You all have a great day. This just simply HAS to be the greatest scrolling site in the whole world!

Bubba

[bandit]

This way takes time but does work. Do like tattoo artist do. Take a copy of your drawing, then take a spiked pin wheel roll it around the lines of your drawing to make pin holes in it. Tape it to the wood, then take powdered chalk red put half a cup on to a square cloth tie the 4 corners together to make a powder puff. Then powder the drawing. When you untape the drawing you should have little dots of the drawing on the wood. Then take a red pen and connect the dots to form the lines of the drawing. This is a lot of work but on a uneven piece of wood it does work.