By Paul Bianchina
Bulletin boards are a common site in many homes. You'll find them in the office, in the kitchen, in the shop, in the kids' bedrooms - just about anywhere there's a need to pin up a note or a memento. But did you ever wish you could find one in a color other than cork tan, or perhaps in a custom size to tuck into a small corner or dominate an entire wall? The solution is to make a custom bulletin board to your exact specifications.
Bulletin boards have three basic elements - a board that's rigid enough to stay straight and flat when hung on the wall, but that's soft enough to accept pins; a decorative covering; and a frame to tie it all together.
One handy material to use for the board is a common building material called asphalt-impregnated insulated sheathing. Among builders, you'll commonly hear it referred to as "fuzz board". Fuzz board is a 1/2" thick material that somewhat resembles thick, black non-corrugated cardboard. It comes in 4' x 8' sheets for about $10 from most lumber yards and home centers. It's lightweight and rigid, and easily accepts push pins.Begin by cutting the fuzz board to the required size, allowing for the additional size of the frame. You can cut this material on a table saw, or with a circular saw, jig saw, hand saw, or by making multiple scoring cuts with a sharp utility knife. Use a straightedge of some sort to ensure straight, square cuts, and wear a dust mask to avoid breathing the fibers while cutting. Once the board is cut to size, handle it carefully - if you drop it or bang it around, you can easily break or bend the corners or even dent the face.
The easiest covering material to work with is fabric. It's inexpensive, easy to apply, and comes in a wide range of colors. Look for a natural fabric with a loose, open weave such as burlap or some types of cotton and linen. What you're after is a fabric that is solid enough to hide the black fuzz board, but open enough that the repeated insertion and removal of pins won't leave it looking like an abandoned dartboard. You'll need a large enough piece to cover one face of the board, plus about six inches on all four sides. A four-foot by three-foot bulletin board, for example, would require a minimum of five feet by four feet of fabric.
Any large fabric store will have a selection of suitable fabrics in a fairly wide range of colors. If you can't find the perfect burgundy to match the office or a dark blue for the bedroom, you might want to consider dying the fabric to the desired shade. In this case, look for a white or off-white fabric that will readily accept dye - the fabric store can help you with suitable choices, but here again, natural fabrics will take the dye readily and evenly. Use a fabric dye such as Rit, and follow the package instructions to dye and finish the fabric prior to use on the board.
Thoroughly dust one face of the fuzz board and set it face up on some plastic sheeting or newspapers. Place some blocks of wood or other material under the board to raise it up off the plastic a couple of inches. Use a canned spray adhesive - available at home stores and paint stores - and spray the entire face and all four edges of the board. Let the adhesive dry - fuzz board is very porous, so it helps to apply one coat to seal the face the board. While the glue dries, double-check that your fabric is clean, dry, and free of wrinkles.
Spray another coating of adhesive over the face and edges of the board. Carefully lay the fabric on the board, making sure you've positioned it so that you have an even amount of overhang on all four sides. Press and smooth the fabric down onto the board and over all four edges, allowing the excess to just hang down for the time being. As you apply the fabric, you want to make sure that you smooth it and stretch it slightly, but not so much that you distort the fabric's weave. Let the material dry while you work on the frame.
The frame can be of any material you wish, and you can make it yourself or have it done for you. A picture framing shop can make you up a frame to your exact specifications in wood, metal and even vinyl. If you're handy in the shop, you can easily make your own wood frame. Select straight, dry 3/4" or 4/4" wood of a width that suits the size of the frame. Cut a 5/8" deep by 3/4" wide rabbet along one edge of the wood to accept the fuzz board, route the face edges as desired, then assemble the frame by mitering the four corners and joining them with glue and finish nails. Sand and stain or paint the frame as desired.
Set the frame face down, and set the fabric-covered fuzz board into the rabbet. Secure the board to the frame using small finish nails driven part way into the inside frame edges. To hang the board on the wall, use metal hanging rings - available at most home centers and hardware stores, or, especially for larger boards, attach it directly to the wall with screws - if desired, you can conceal the screw heads with matching wood plugs.
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I went to two home improvement stores (Lowe's and Home Depot) two lumber yards, and finally went to a commercial lumber yard to get look for this material. At least here in NY, its a special order item, that required me to get 90 sheets for them to order it. Could you please re-write this article with a different material as your choice? Maybe this material is regionally available, but isn't in NY (LI). I ahve a wonderful meatloaf recipe that includes truffles specail ordered from France. Its a nice recipe, but how many people are goig to special order the truffles.