Giant Ruler - 6 Foot Growth Chart

Being military we move every 3 to 4 years, so as the saying goes "Home is Where the Air Force Sends You." It is very true. Max will not grow up in the same house from birth till he leaves for college, I mean he is already in his second house. But as I have gotten older and more aware of what goes on around me I realize that I'm very much a home body. I feel the most comfortable in my house.

But as much as I enjoy moving around and getting to see and experience different things I have always liked the idea that my kid would grow up in the same house for most of his life. I always liked to see the growth chart on the wall or door frame, but that isn't possible for us. So I when I saw this idea on pinterest here and here I knew I wanted to make my own version of it. The only thing was I didn't like that all of these were painted and I didn't like that. 

So I started with a 6 foot board. It took me some time to figure out how I was going to do the measurements etc. Each mark on the board is an inch and the board will sit 6 inches off the ground and goes as high as 6 1/2 feet. 

Tim showed me how to use the router, and after some practice lines I was off. It took a while and the lines are not perfectly straight but I think I'm okay with that. It looks homemade and vintage in my opinion. My next issue was how I was going to do the numbers. If I painted them on I don't think it would have look consistent enough for me. So I have a silhouette cutting machine (which I love btw) and after a couple different sizes and heights of numbers I found the ones that I liked. I traced them on the board and I routed those in there free hand. It was like coloring with a power tool, kinda neat. :-) 

Once the numbers were done Tim gave me is blow torch (scary I know) to burn the inside of the numbers. The flame was a little big and I burned a little more than the number in some areas but again, it's homemade, and I sanded as much as I could so it looked even from number to number.

My stain color is light oak. I wanted the ruler to look like a real ruler and the ones I remember in school were a lighter wood and I think if I used a darker stain the number would have gotten lost.

Thoughts on this project
I want to make this again, in fact I have already bought another board because I know what I would change. First a disclaimer, I'm not OCD but I really think the lines need to be perfectly straight. I also think that the lines need to burned as well and I think the stain should be a touch darker. I need to leave the stain on there a little bit longer.

I think I would give myself a B+ on this project, I really like it but I think it could be cooler (and a little more perfect) if I make the above changes. When I make the second one I'll take more pictures to post and show the process a little bit better.