It looks dark-stained like cedar fence pickets to me. If I were to make that, I'd cut them all to length, and fasten to two "vertical" boards behind. The good thing is 6' pickets are only like $3.

Do you typically find them pre-stained, or would I have to stain them?

You'd have to do it. They always come "raw" and rough cut.

Thanks. Any tips on how to familiarize myself with the process of staining this sort of thing?

Loos like oak plywood cut into strips and put back together

as someone who has recently stained a fence: what I see is 2 different methods. For all the planks, they used a gold-ish colored stain. You can apply that with a wide (5" or so) stain brush you can buy at the big home improvement stores or ace hardware for like $10. it's really easy, just paint it on until you're satisfied.

The harder part here is stage 2: 3 boards were covered in what looks like gray chalk paint and sanded down. they may have added a little black to some parts of the board, too. 4 boards appear to have been dry brushed in black/dark gray chalk paint. All were sanded unevenly, probably with like 40-60 grit sandpaper, to make it look weathered.

good luck!

The best tip is to follow the instructions as stated on the stain can. You can watch some YouTube videos or read a few articles to get familiar with the process but the manufacturers instruction are what you need to follow. You should try a test piece too and that may even be in the instructions.

As for the woodworking part, cedar fence pickets are extremely rough and likely will have a bow in them. For the look in the picture, you'll need a rough sanding to remove the burs/splinters and some jointing to remove the bow. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a 1/2 piece of plywood on the back with a 2" offset so you don't see the backing and give it some more of that floating look. Makes sense too as you can screw in through the back to secure the stained wood up front.

This looks like "barn board". Aged wood, or wood made to appear aged, then sold for the aesthetic look of old wood.

If you want to go the easy but expensive route, just get some aged peel and stick shiplap and put it on some things plywood.

I actually did something like this for a project and bought a pack of these in different colors from Home Depot.

[I bought something like these] (https://www.homedepot.com/p/HARDWOOD-REFLECTIONS-5-8-in-x-5-1-2-in-x-48-in-Rustic-Weathered-Grey-Pine-Solid-Wood-Wall-Paneling-1063CBDRG-20/305051723) to use for a propane fire pit build I'm making, but they are for wall decoration.

There are several different color options, the one I got was almost black, with some reds and browns to almost a blonde color and the pack came with like 8 or 10 boards.

Note this isn't a board it's a panel, multiple boards joined together.

Go to home depot's website and search for 'barn wood'. That will give you choices for fake reclaimed wood boards like this. You can't just stain wood to look anything like this, it has to be distressed and you probably don't want to do this yourself. You can buy the boards and glue/screw/nail them to a plywood panel, which you can also buy from home depot in 24X48 size and cut down.

After you paint it you can leave as is or chose to cover with a clear coat like water-based poly.

With a router. Cut a tongue on one side and a groove on the other.

It can be done with a table saw as well if you get a dado blade.

The easiest cheapest way I can think is fence board routed with lap joints glued together the back support boards wouldn’t be needed that way, if it were only a painting of a map in white also which would make the type of wood not matter so much. Also fence board are treated and not the hardest wood hence would sand down to a nice finish for painting smoothly

Fence boards are usually a nice 1x6(not precisely). I’ve used some for picture frames and when routing the edges for joinery and actually holding the picture they’re easy to work with and also sanded down to nice smooth finishes without much effort or sandpaper. Plus they’re light

Oh and a 1x6x6 treated fence board for $2.50 beats the crap out of the price of its competitive lumber options $8-??

You can buy aged wood like this at home improvement stores if you don't want to do the aging process. Then as others have said they are held together buy vertical boards across the back. You can see this piece of art hangs away from the wall.

Practice on a crap of the same type of wood you're using after you trim the pieces. Stain goes a long way, so get the small container.

The thing about putting wood together like that is that it actually requires A LOT of tools to do well.

It's not just a matter of gluing them together. The won't withstand much force against the face of the wood if you simply just glue them together. If they warp over time, a weak joint will also cause the entire piece to crack. And don't underestimate warping, I've had random tables practically explode because one day the joints just gave out and the warping couldn't be stopped.

First, start with good aged wood. Fresh lumber with lots of moisture is bound to warp over time. You don't want to paint on something and then a year later, find the wood has curved slightly and your artwork no longer looks the same. Once wood has dried out and already warped, that's when you shape the wood into its final straight product.

What you're going to want to do is first you need to JOINT the wood. Not join, JOINT. You need a jointer for this. You can also use a planer but need to be a little more precise. You need completely FLAT and PARALLEL sides to join together (parallel and flat are not the same!). Any curvature or imperfection on the side-face of the wood will create a weak joint.

Some people would suggest using dowels. I've read a lot of opposing/supporting arguments for dowels but I prefer not to go down that road of even more specialized tooling for probably a tiny difference. You can also look into different methods of joinery. Essentially you're cutting shapes into the wood so it gives you more surface area to apply glue and stick together. This can be especially difficult without proper tools like chisels, measuring devices like measuring tapes/calipers.

You're going to need a lot of long, good quality clamps. To buy clamps long enough for a glue-up like this, you're looking at $30-40 PER CLAMP. I would guess you would need probably at least 3, safe bet would be 4.

Other random things you'll need include a heavy workbench you don't mind getting dirty/damaging. If you're using a hand planer to clean up edges, you need something HEAVY to clamp your piece down to or else trying to run a planer and shave off a layer of wood will just tip over your table. You also need a heavy table clamp which can easily be a $100 or so. Electric planer/jointer, electric saw, chisels, hammers, glue, measuring devices, etc. are some other random things you might need.

You're frankly better off buying this premade somewhere unless you really plan on doing this a bunch. This really isn't in the realm of simple DIY though unless you're okay with a more rugged outcome. If you want a very clean, very straight result, you need lots of expensive and precise tools. It seems like a super simple thing but just wait until you try and do it with minimal tools and you'll end up spending hours just to clean up the sides of the board, let alone any joinery work, glue up, sanding, and staining. Then you need a proper place to let something like this dry (not inside your home where the fumes of glue/wood stain will make you sick). If you don't have a garage, you better hope it doesn't rain or bugs don't fly on your freshly stained product.

In my experience, Home Depot sometimes keeps random pieces of "diy" wood in stock. It's generally pretty limited to home-building materials but you can find a few pieces of boards that look just like the ones in your picture (although they might be thinner which gives them a less "substantial" feeling) that are already glued together and a final product.

Not to discourage you from doing this because woodworking is tons of fun and there is so much room for creativity. But this isn't exactly an easy task and could require a decent chunk of starting money even for the simplest process.

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