In this tutorial I’ll show you how I made my “Waves for Days” flag out of 2x4’s

Supplies

8- 8’ 2x4’s
Rit Dye blue and red
Polyurethane
Star Stencil
Bandsaw or jigsaw
Rotary Tool
Mitre Saw
Angle grinder
Brad Nailer
2” Brad nails

Step 1: Making the Template

To make the template for the waving effect I cut out a 2x4 13” longer than I wanted my stripes to be. My flag was 36” so I cut this piece at 49” Then I drew on a wave pattern that I thought looked ok and cut it out on a bandsaw. I then marked lines 1” a part all the way to 13”.

Step 2: Making the Stripes

I cut out each stripe to length on the mitre saw. Then I took my stripe template and traced the wave pattern on to it. Then for all the consecutive stripes i moved the template 1” down and traced the pattern for each of the 13 stripes, and labeling each stripe as i finished.

Step 3: The Grind

Next I cut out each stripes wave on the bandsaw. Once you finish, line all the stripes up in order and you should have a cool wave effect. Then the fun part begins. I clamped each stripe together and used an angle grinder with a shaping wheel to grind down all the offset pieces so it all looks nice and smooth. Then i used my palm sander and sanded through 600 grit to finish.

Step 4: Burn and Stain

After the sanding is finished, burn each stripe just enough to bring the grain of the wood out. Once burned, i lighted sanded it again and wiped it all down before the stain. I used Rit Dye for the stain and stained each stripe individually before i glued it together. This saved a TON of time taping. Once stained i used a high gloss polyurethane on all the stripes individually as well. The stain will bleed so i didn’t want to risk any of the color blending together.

Step 5: Glue Up

Once the poly dried I glued and nailed each stripe together one at a time. Be careful not to use too much glue. You don’t want any to sleep out on the poly. Once everything was dry I traced on the stars with a stencil and cut each one out individually. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial!