DIY Build your own wood shims shamrock

I love working with wood, it might just be my favorite medium to work with! All things antiqued, and worn have a big place in my heart as well. This shims shamrock turned out better than I imagined. Read below to see how you can make one for yourself.

Supplies:

wood shims (12-24 depending on how you lay them out and the size of your shamrock)
1/2″ MDF board
Staple gun with 1/2″staples
Gorilla wood glue
Hammer, flat head screw driver, needle nose pliers (optional for removing or fixing any rogue staples)
Shamrock pattern and pencil
Jig saw
safety glasses
hand sander/sand paper/belt sander
clamps and gloves (optional)

Step 1: Deciding placement of shims for your shims shamrock

Lay your MDF board on your work surface. Begin laying out the shims on top. Lay one out with the thicker end towards one side, while the next one you want the opposite direction. Doing it this way will give your finished shamrock texture and depth.

You can continue to lay them this way or you can change it up a little and butt up the thick or thin ends together and have the connection be in the middle of the ones you just laid.

Step 2: securing the shims into place

When you have decided on the placement you like for your shims, you are going to glue them into place. Flip the first one over and put wood glue along the back. Replace it where you got it from and staple into place. (You can use nails instead, so you don’t see where it was stapled into place, but I chose staples because I wanted to see the staples in the finished shamrock) Do this for the next one and continue until you have them all glued and stapled into place. Let the wood glue dry before moving on to the next step.

Step 3: Cutting your shamrock shape

When the wood glue has dried completely, trace your shamrock pattern onto your wood shims.

Check all the edges and make sure there is a staple holding the wood onto where the shamrock will be cut out. (I lost a few little pieces when I made mine that I had to re-glue and staple into place.

After you have traced your shamrock pattern and checked all the edges, you are going to use the jigsaw to cut it out. Be sure to put on your safety glasses and gloves.

Begin cutting out your shamrock, by following the traced pattern. You will need to start and stop in several places to get it fully cut out. It would be great if you could turn the saw like scissors, but it doesn’t work that way.

Step 4: Finishing up your shims shamrock cut out

Don’t worry! I know you are probably thinking your shamrock looks horrid! We are going to fix that. I used a belt sander, because I have one, but this can be done with a palm sander as well, it just takes longer.

Using your sander, sand the sides that you just cut, smoothing out any rough edges.

Now sand the corner edges that are where the sides and front come together. I hope this makes sense. Sand them down so they are not so sharp, so they look warn. Brush all the saw dust off and now you are ready to finish your shim shamrock. Here is a tutorial on how I finished my shims shamrock into a green ombre shamrock just in time for St. Patrick’s Day! Fine the tutorial here!

That’s how you Brand it 😉