Low cost, 28.5 inch tip to tip, triple decker star.

Step 1: Over View

I am not good with angles at all, almost failed geometry! So I looked up the angles on a star and dumbed the build down. These stars cost about 7$ and look like a million bucks.... in my opinion, hahaha.

Step 2: Materials and Tools

Really simple.

2x2 boards, bought at lowes - finished size 1.5x1.5

Miter saw, nail gun, 2 inch nails, paint, stain, glue, orbital sander, rub on polyurethane. Pretty basic stuff.

Step 3: Prepping Materials

I started by sanding all my materials, take down the edges, and all the lumber mill markings.

It's crazy how big a difference a minute under a sander does.

Then I paint the boards. So much easier to paint and distress full boards rather than a completed star.

Tip, use cheap paint, way easier to distress, one pass with the sander and they are ready to go.

Hit the boards with the sander, I use 120 grit. Just enough to bring the grain back out.

Step 4: Cutting

Cut 10 equal pieces for each star. For this star I used 11, 9 and 7 inch pieces.

Put a 36 degree angle on one side, leaving the totally length of the piece.

Put a 18 degree angle on the other side. A standard Miter saw isn't designed to cut a steep angle needed for a star. Reference the picture to see how I do it. Probably not the safest way, but it works for me. Get ready to make a lot of saw dust!

Step 5: Assembly

Before assembling I hit the sides real quick with a piece of sander paper, it is really hard to clean them up when the star is assemblied.

Attach the pieces at the 36 degree angle. Apply some glue, a nail, I only use one nail to leave some adjustability when the whole star gets put together. They go together pretty easy. Then attach the pieces at the 18 degree angle, some more glue and 2 nails. Reference the pics.

BOOM FIRST STAR DONE!!!

Now repeat for the other 2 stars.

Line the two big stars up and connect them with some nails from the back side of the biggest star. Line up the smallest star and attach it with some nails through the back the middle size star.

Step 6: Stain and Poly

I use minwax special walnut stain. Rub it on, I start with the white star, sometimes the red and blue stain the rag and transfer the color on to the white.

I then apply the rub on satin polyurethane by minwax.

DONE!!!!

Step 7: Conclusion

Pretty simple project. I know i put a lot of steps, realistically, the cutting and assembly takes under an hour.

This is the type of gift that costs next to nothing but the receiver will never know and appreciate the effort you put in.

Please don't be afraid to give this s try. Great thing is the materials are cheap and if you mess up your only on a couple bucks and can retry. Post some pics of your results, I would love to see what you come up with. These steps work for materials we different de signs as you can see, the pic with 3 different stars.

Thanks for showing interest!