HI student 5546_student , Merry Christmas!
I'd start with a Plane, cut some Loop Cuts, Bevel them and Delete the newly created Faces and use a Boolean Intersect with a Cylinder. Then give it some thickness:
You can also start with a Circle (Filled with an NGon) and connect 'opposite' Verrtices, where you want the cuts, with J and the, Bevel those cuts and Delete the Faces. Then add thickness. This will give you planks of varying width.
Yeah this is the thing with modeling, it's like we have to develop a Neo sight on what's the best approach to get to a result. We are very used to a straight linear way but the more you model the more you see different and optimized paths to get to a result. And that only comes with modeling a lot.
The modeling a soccer ball is a good example of this, you'd never get to the end with a straight forward normal path, you have to go all Neo on it:
That works! Thanks :)
Yeah! The soccer ball video is a good example, thanks for the suggestion. Really shows me you have to think more advanced to get the result you want.