DIY
How to make your own peace pole
This page tells how to turn a wooden post into a peace pole. A scrap 2 by 4 was used for these photos, but you would want to obtain a 4 by 4. For tips about choosing the wood, click choosing lumber.
Getting Text on the Pole
This usually is the first thing about which people are concerned. There are several options for accomplishing it. One is making your own templates for free as described below. Another is purchasing reusable stencils (I'm in the process of creating these now). Another is purchasing adhesive templates that allow you to brush or roll or spray perfect letters on your pole. I have those available for all translations for $25 each.
Making Templates for Free
On a computer printer, printout a full-size template of the
translations. Set the templates
on the pole. Drag a pencil or ballpoint pen on top of the letters heavily enough
to leave an impression in the wood. The impression is the rough guide for your
paintbrush. In this photo, instead of outlining the letters, I have drawn the
center line of each as a guide for my brushstrokes.
For some languages that do not use our alphabet, following the impression of the
center line of a character might not give you all the information you need. It
can be more useful to outline the characters so that you see when the brush
stroke should be wide or tapered or have the end squared off. But for this
example I drew the center line.
Click to enlarge
Normally there would be only a light impression in the wood
made by the pressure of the pen or pencil on the paper, with no actual pencil
lead coloring the wood. But that did not show up well in these photos. So I ran
a pen through the impressions to make them visible to you in the photo at right.
There is no reason to be afraid of languages like Chinese and Korean. When I
first was working on Chinese, I sought out native Chinese people who could help
me learn about their text. If I asked them to write a certain word for me, they
pulled out a ball point pen and jotted it out on a scrap of paper the same way I
would in English. Calligraphy and typesetting in any language are more precise
and exacting than handwriting. But hand painted letters have their own charm and
accessibility. We feel the presence of the craftsperson when we see they were
hand painted. In Chinese it will have the same charm and intelligibility as it
does in English. Just trace a good pattern and it will be fine.
Paint
Click paint for information on preservatives for the wood and choosing paint for the text.
Paint letters over the lines with a small paint brush. An artist's supply or a craft shop has such brushes. You might want one kind of brush for languages like English that evolved on printing presses and another kind for languages like Chinese that evolved on the end of a brush.
The brush in the top of this photo is the one I find most useful. It is a quarter inch angular shader. It is a flat brush. The square edge allows a precision useful in duplicating text. Springing for an expensive one of these can make a big difference in how your pole turns out. This isn't the place to cut corners. Buy cheap wood and cheap paint if you want, but pay $20 and get a good brush.
Cutting the Top
This should be done to the pole before anything else, unless you either are leaving the top square or adding a cap to it. Cutting a pyramid into the top of the peace pole is not hard to do. You don't even have to have the right tools, although they help. Just measure, cut carefully, and if it doesn't come out right, you can cut another couple of inches off the pole to try again. Someday when I get time I'll post photos of this process. It can be done with a circular saw or a hand saw. And the measuring can be done with any ruler if you don't have something that marks a 45 degree angle.
Planting the Peace Pole
In the world of peace poles, they don't say "install" or "erect." They say "plant" peace poles. To see ways to plant peace poles, click peace pole planting.
Response
I am developing this page in response to your questions and thoughts, so email me at the address below with any you have. That will help me make this more useful to people making their own peace poles. My phone and email are at the bottom of every page.
If do-it-yourself projects appeal to you, lots of other how-to information can be found at http://www.knowledgehound.com. .