To begin, you need to prepare your hardwood. We used a piece of rough cherry that had to be jointed and planed. Make sure that you meet the minimum length requirements for your power tools. If you are using a pre-surfaced board, then you are ready to go. Mark the circle which will be the outside of the stamp holder. We used a compass to make a 2 1/2" (6cm) circle. See the design considerations section for more information regarding dimensioning.

Before cutting out the circle we just made, we drilled the central hole. The diameter should be at least 1" and preferably 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" to accommodate standard rolls of stamps. You should probably purchase a roll of stamps first to confirm the size of the roll. Note that you can compress the rolls as necessary to fit your hole, but over tightening may begin to damage the stamps.