Not everyone has an Alaskan chainsaw mill (attachment to mill wood) like we do, we purchased ours on Amazon. Along with the Alaskan chainsaw mill, a rip chain is also needed. If you don't want to mill your own lumber- simply purchase the lumber.

With the Alaskan chainsaw mill we first needed to set the depth of the cut. We set ours at about 1.5 inches. In retrospect I wish I would have set mine a little smaller, like 3/4 of an inch- but we were going for big and rustic. Then I attached my mill to my chainsaw and and was ready to start. Make sure to use safety precautions before beginning (proper shoes, glasses and gloves).

This was the first time I used the mill on my saw, so I was a little apprehensive, but after starting and seeing the finished piece of wood I cut, it was a lot of fun.

After you are finished cutting the wood with your mill, the next step is to cut the boards into 2 inch lengths (and make them at least 16 inches long or longer- you can trim of excess at the end. But be sure to measure a straight line for the first cut to cut off the edges before starting. This way you will have a straight edge to use your tablesaw fence. Cut all your pieces-- optionally (ideally) use a planer to make the boards flat and the same height. We didn't have one and we are going for a rustic look so we skipped this step.

Next you need to stain 4 of the 8 lengths for the dark pieces of the board. In our project we skipped this step and used 4 pieces that were gray and heavily weathered. In the end you will have:

4- 2inch X 8inch white lengths

4- 2inch X 8inch dark.stained lengths