If you’ve taken inspiration from Animal Crossing aficionados across Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube, you’ve probably seen the wooden sign featured somewhere on their island.
Trends like cottagecore, farmcore, and even cyberpunk use the wooden sign as a versatile item to boost your island’s rating and add to the chosen aesthetic.
Want to learn how to get your hands on this DIY and all its differing customization options? Read on to find out!
What is the wooden sign in ACNH?
The wooden sign, also known as the wooden shop sign, in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a small wooden customizable item that features a picture/image on the front. It’s customizable in multiple ways, namely color and the image on the sign.
You’ll be happy to hear that the wooden sign can be customized using multiple customize kits! Depending on the aesthetic of your island, you might be more inclined to use darker or lighter woods. Thankfully the wooden sign comes in three basic wood colors to accommodate most island aesthetics:
- Natural Wood
- White Wood
- Dark Wood
When it comes to the image on the sign, there are also in-built options outside of the patterns available from your custom design library:
- Pet (assumed to be a missing pet sign)
- Ad (assumed to be advertising a product/shop)
- Warning Sign (similar to a no-entry sign)
- Wanted Sign (western-style)
How to get the wooden sign DIY
This item can’t be found in Timmy & Tommy’s shop, but you can get the DIY recipe through a few different routes:
- Talking to a jock personality villager, such as Dom, Roald, and Tybalt, whilst they’re crafting at home
- Shooting down a balloon and opening the present
- Message in a Bottle on either your shores or on a mystery island’s beach (check out our dedicated post if you a message in a bottle hasn’t washed up on your shores for a while)
- In-game trades through island visitors or through Nookazon trades
When it comes to the wooden sign DIY, you might find some of your friends got the recipe very early on in the game, whereas others spend hundreds of hours playing without a single sniff of the recipe!
Whether you received the DIY early on in the game depends on your luck with balloons or the twice-daily spawning Message in a Bottle, and which villagers you have on your island.
As this DIY is fairly common for most, but not all, you might find that players on forums, Nookazon, or friends you know in real life have duplicates of the DIY. If this is the case, you could use duplicate DIYs you own to trade for the wooden sign DIY.
Want to know more? Check out our guide about what to do with your duplicate DIYs for more tips!
How do you make a DIY signpost?
One of the easiest crafts in Animal Crossing is the wooden signpost. It only needs one tool and one material:
- An ax
- 6x wood
To craft the signpost, you’ll need to swing at a few trees with your ax to get the wood, so make sure you have your net at the ready to catch pesky wasps (or at least have medicine at the ready)!
Once you’ve got your 6 logs of wood, head over to your crafting station and make your signpost.
How much does the wooden sign sell for?
If you’re looking for a rare item that sells for big bells like Gold Armor then this isn’t it. The wooden sign is easy to make, but won’t be a big earner as it sells for 720 bells.
Rather than selling wooden signs, they’re typically used to enhance an island’s aesthetic as an added nod to the chosen theme.
Can you customize a plain wooden shop sign on Animal Crossing?
You can most definitely customize your plain wooden sign to fit your island’s aesthetic or just give it a cuter look! To customize your signpost, you’ll need to interact with a crafting station and have multiple customizing kits (two minimum) in your inventory to change the wood type and/or the actual sign.
If you don’t want to use the four in-built sign options, you can use a pattern from your custom design library. Whether you’re trying to signpost a lemonade stand, farming area, or directions to the museum, the signpost is a great addition to any island!
Get the wooden signpost in ACNH
To get your paws on the wooden sign DIY on Animal Crossing takes a little bit of luck – or a few jock villagers – but it’s more than possible!
With persistence and patience, you should receive the DIY either through villagers, balloons, or inside a Message in a Bottle. Failing the natural gameplay methods of receiving the DIY, you can check out Nookazon or Animal Crossing forums to see if someone is willing to part with a duplicate of the popular DIY.
Although the sign doesn’t sell for much, it’s worth a lot more as an addition to your island’s aesthetic or as a cute item to help visitors navigate your island (and increase your island rating)!
Want to increase your cottagecore recipes? Check out our guide on getting log stakes for a rustic aesthetic!