How to Make Your Own Wood Tombstones

Cutting Pieces

• 1

  Collect a few images of tomb stones in shapes you like. Check Halloween and Old West websites for ideas.

• 2

  Sketch the outline of your design onto a piece of 3/4 inch thick plywood, using a square to ensure the edges are straight and even. Cut the tomb stone out with a jig saw. Sand the edges with 100-grit sandpaper.

• 3

  Cut a piece of 4-by-4 post as long as your tombstone in wide, using a miter saw.

Making the Base

• 4

  Unplug the table saw. Locate the height adjustment on your saw, and raise the blade all the way up. Wedge a block of wood behind the blade to hold it still and turn the nut in the center of the blade counterclockwise, using a wrench to remove it.

• 5

  Select the correct number of stack dado blades to create a 3/4 inch dado, or horizontal groove through one face of the post piece. Use the instructions that came with your blade, as thicknesses vary from set to set. In general, use one chipper blade on the outside of the stack, and add as many pieces as required between them to create the width of dado you want, using a tape measure to gauge the number needed.

• 6

  Place the dado blades on the arbor spindle of the saw and replace the nut. Tighten it clockwise with the wrench. Set the depth of the blade to 2 inches. Set the fence 1 3/8 inch from the inside of the blade.

• 7

  Start the saw and run the post piece across the blade to cut a 3/4 inch wide, by 2 inch deep dado, or groove into the piece. Stop the saw and wait for it to stop spinning before retrieving the piece.

Assembling the Tomb Stone

• 8

  Sand the base with 100-grit sandpaper to remove any roughness along the edge of the dado. Apply a bead of wood glue in the bottom of the dado.

• 9

  Fit the bottom edge of the tombstone into the dado in the base so that it rests in the flat bottom of the groove.

• 10

  Nail through the base into the plywood, one inch down from the top of the base with 2 inch pin nails, one nail every two inches.