Oh, My!!! Those are beautiful boards!! I think I'd leave the painted side as is and make a small keepsake box. Use mitered joints so the cut edges don't show. Seal the painted surface to prevent flaking. 

 

Another idea is a picture frame. I made this one years ago from barn wood that had weathered so no paint remained-

 

The glass was from an 1800's home that was restored.

 

Thanks for the kind words about the cradle!

Edited October 27, 20214 yr by lew

Thanks Lew for all your input.

Edited October 28, 20214 yr by KevTN
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Kev, @lew's the man - he's BTDT!

Edited October 28, 20214 yr by Cal

Kev, pictures please.  

I will definitely post pics as soon as I build. With the travel and life it’s crazy lol. I was hoping to get to it this past week but the weather did not cooperate. 

Work has been crazy! Finally got to start on this project. Now it will have even more meaning. My co-works grandmother whose farm the board came from past away this past Friday. Thanks to @lew and some of you with your ideas. I decided to make a keepsake box. I am going for a continuous grain. The lid I cut around the ‘handle’. Hand to remove some square nails. Here a few pics of the progress so far…

 

 

That is incredible!

Really cool.  Thanks for the pix.  Hope you had fun and that all is well.  

Thanks lew and FlGatorwood! 
 

lew you are the one who gave the idea for the keepsake and keeping the paint on instead on planing down. Thank you.

 

I hope next weekend to cut the bottom and and sand the inside panels.
 

 

That is some kinda nice right there Kevin!  Really like the use of the square nails on the handle

On 10/17/2021 at 8:37 PM, lew said:

I've made picture frames from old wood then inserted a picture that had meaning to the one receiving the frame.

Yes, I've done the same with a tomato stake from my family farm.  Some judicious cutting and all the weathered sides remained.

Had to finish up the box today as I am  going to on the road almost 7 days a week starting tomorrow for the next few months. (Daughter plays college softball and season begins next Friday)

 

Had to bring inside to get above the 60 degree mark. 

It not perfect nor as good as I wanted the corners to meet up. For a first time I guess it is ok. 
 

if I didn’t want to ruin/disrupt the patina. I would fill the corners and sand. Any suggestions for for the future project please feel to pass along. Still feel like a newbie in this craft.

 

Have a great rest of the weekend.

 

 

I like it. The rustic surface and patina really tells a story about the life of the wood. Don’t take this the wrong way, to me the construction compliments the trip the materials took to get here. 

2 minutes ago, lew said:

I like it. The rustic surface and patina really tells a story about the life of the wood. Don’t take this the wrong way, to me the construction compliments the trip the materials took to get here. 

Thanks lew! And actually I consider that a compliment.

Awesome box. If...you wish to close the outside of the corners you can take a screwdriver on each board and roll the shaft along the board to bend the fibers. I have seen it done. It would probably work better if the wood had some moisture in it. But I really like that box with history.

4 minutes ago, FlGatorwood said:

Awesome box. If...you wish to close the outside of the corners you can take a screwdriver on each board and roll the shaft along the board to bend the fibers. I have seen it done. It would probably work better if the wood had some moisture in it. But I really like that box with history.

Thank you. I will have to look at that technique I have never heard of that. 

The screwdriver trick works very well, may do exactly as you want.

Came out really nice Kevin.

Going forward, which saw did you use to cut your corners and how did you set your angle?

2 hours ago, Cal said:

Came out really nice Kevin.

Going forward, which saw did you use to cut your corners and how did you set your angle?

I used my table saw. A 10 inch Dewalt. My angle finder showed 44.7 and that’s as far as it would go

15 minutes ago, KevTN said:

My angle finder showed 44.7 and that’s as far as it would go

I had that trouble with my table saw a couple of times. The first time I found the adjustable stop (under the table) was not properly set. Other times it was from dirt collected in the trunnion gears.