Make a Wooden Book - Original Journal Gift Idea!

Have you ever thought of making a journal with a wooden cover? I hadn’t until I stumbled across this on Pinterest….from ThriftDiving.com….

https://thriftdiving.com/how-to-make-a-wooden-journal/how-to-make-a-diy-journal-out-of-wood-thrift-diving/

….it kept coming back to my mind that this is my woodworking skill level. I really should try this!

I’m really happy with how it turned out. Rather than wood burning like Serena did. I hand painted a daisy on mine.

You will need:

1/4 inch birch plywood
drill and 5/16″ drill bit
fine sandpaper
stain and rag
craft paint – yellow, white, brown
clear coat varnish and brush
binder clips
computer paper
3 hole punch

The thin birch plywood comes as a large piece that needs to be cut down. I don’t have a table saw-so I had the wood cut for me at Home Depot.

Each cover needs to be approximately 9″ x 11″. So do the math and try to get the most out of your wood board. Each book needs a front and a back cover. I was able to get 6 pieces from mine to make up 3 books and there is enough left over to make at least one more.

I stained the board and then drilled the holes. Next time I would drill the holes first and then stain the wood.

The cuts may cause some fraying of the thin birch veneer, don’t panic! Sand the rough parts smooth-the stain will also hide flaws. I used my favorite color Jacobean from MinWax.

Using a rag, rub the stain into both sides of the boards. It’s quite a dark stain so I don’t use much and start light and work at slowly going darker. Allow the stain to dry overnight.

As I mentioned above, it would be sensible to drill the holes before staining. Doing it afterwards can mean you’ll do some touch ups with stain afterward.

Use a page with holes as a template. Mark the hole with a pencil first.

Place a scrap board under the journal cover before drilling. The journal cover will be damaged if you drill without scrap wood underneath…do don’t skip this step.

For the second piece of birch you could set it right on top and drill through both book covers to make sure they are matched up perfectly.

Put in the binder rings and see how it fits. Everything fits perfectly. So take the top cover back off and prepare to personalize and decorate the cover.

Using inexpensive craft acrylic paint, I painted the daisy on in white. Then I added some highlights with tan and yellow paints.

I used this exact same daisy idea on long boards for ways to use up scrap wood. I’ll include the link at the bottom of this post.

The last step is to turn the paintbrush upside down and dip it into the paint. I added rows of dots all around the edge of the daisy’s centre and some random ones in the middle.

Again allow to fully dry.

Put a coat of clear polyurethane for extra durability. Allow to fully dry overnight.

You can use lined paper or computer paper and punch the holes in it yourself. I like blank pages if you are going to give it as a gift. It looks like a sketchbook and how great would it be to sketch with a book with a wooden cover!