How to Make Rustic Furniture Out of Barn Wood

Remove all nails, screws, staples and other hardware from your lumber. Use a table saw to rip straight edges on the pieces, removing any soft, or rotting wood in the process. Sand the pieces lightly with 100-grit sandpaper on a random orbit sander to remove splinters and smooth the surface slightly to make it easier to work with.

Choose a plan for your furniture piece. This can come from a book or magazine, be downloaded from a website, or drawn by hand. Make sure that you find or create a plan that outlines the number, shape and size of all pieces required to build your furniture.

Lay out your cut ticket. This is a list of all pieces, including size and thickness and all cuts that need to be made to it. Cross reference this with your available materials and label pieces of lumber to cut each piece from, starting with the largest. Make sure you have enough, because the color, patina and texture of the wood you are using may not be able to be matched. If you need to include wood from another barn or source, it may be best to create several pieces from each lot to help them blend in.

Do basic cutting on all pieces. This includes ripping on the table saw, cutting curves on a band saw, or jig saw and cutting pieces to length with a miter saw, or chop saw. Do all of the processes needed to get the rough form of your pieces complete.

Machine your parts. This includes drilling and mortising for hardware, routering details along edges cutting for biscuit and other joints, and installing dowel pins. Complete this on all parts.

Sand the pieces as needed. Sand edges that will be glued together smooth, leave rustic surfaces on outside parts as rough as possible without making the furniture uncomfortable. Remove all splinters and sand sharp edges that will have human contact.

Assemble the pieces. Start from the ground up and work in sections. For instance: assemble table legs and skirt as a unit, construct the table top, then join the pieces together. This allows for easy manipulation of parts to get into tight corners. Glue all parts and clamp them in place for at least 24 hours for a complete set on any glue, regardless of label instructions.

Apply finish with a soft bristle brush. Apply clear, flat sheen sealers to furniture if you want the appearance to stay essentially the same as it is. Apply stains, wax or linseed oil to darken or change colors. Test stains on scrap pieces before applying to the entire piece. Work in long, straight strokes, with the wood grain. Apply finishes as evenly as possible to prevent runs and drips. Allow label recommended drying times between coats, and allow finishes to cure completely before handing.