A New Sign for the Shop

Over the last week, I've been up every morning shortly after 6am to work on the sidewalk project. The sod cutter didn't cut deep enough, so I'm having to use a maddox to finish the job. That means cutting another two to four inches deep down the entire length of the sidewalk. One more day and I should be finished with that phase of the project. We already have some lime down, which we will lay the pavers down on, but need a few more truckloads.


In anticipation of a large two-day auction across the road from us, I prepared a more permanent sign for our small country store that we operate on a part-time whenever-we-feel-like-it basis. I started with a 1-inch piece of scrap plywood left over from the composting toilet project. It was 11-inches x 30-inches. Using this as the base board, I took a seven-foot long two-by-four and made a 1-inch wide by 11-inches long cut in the middle using a Sabre saw and drill. I also used the circular saw to trim the bottom of the two-by-four into a point to make it easier to drive into the ground. I drove the base board through the cut in the two-by-four and viola, had a sign post.

Next, I cut four 5-inch x 20-inch boards from a sheet of 1/4-inch plywood. I used green spray paint as a base on all of the boards and the post. The next day, I used graph paper to make 2-inch x 4-inch stencils of the letters I would need. The missing sign in the photo below says RABBITS. Unfortunately, it was damaged in a wind storm before I took the photo. I used a very light green paint and a thin paintbrush to paint the letters I had traced onto the boards. Once dry, I screwed cup hooks into the tops of the boards and eye hooks into the bottoms to make interchangeable signs. I finished just in time for the auction over the weekend, so we were open both Saturday and Sunday all day, albeit with few sales.


Where the open sign is (which is just red paint on posterboard), I stenciled BLUE SPRUCE FARM, since that is what we call our place. I left enough room for a website to be added under the name, but didn't have time to paint the letters. I think it turned out fairly well. Stay green!