You don’t have to be an expert in woodworking to appreciate cool things to make out of wood. If you have some woodworking skills, you’re in a great position to make a wide variety of projects – not just practical things like doors and household furniture, but smaller woodcrafts too. These speciality items would normally cost a small fortune for you to purchase or have custom made, so you have a big advantage if you can make it yourself.
Wooden items make awesome gifts too and if you’re able to make it yourself, it adds a personal touch that you can be proud of.
To help you out, we have selected 10 super cool projects that aren’t too expensive to make, look great and are popular with users. Best of all, they can easily be accomplished by both the beginner and experienced woodworkers alike.
Please note: a lot of these designs were made with the assistance of a 3D carving machine
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American Flag Coin Rack
Any true patriot is going to appreciate this. It’s a perfect gift for returned serviceman (and women) who are after a unique way to display their coin collection. Really makes for a show stopping art piece that looks great and it’s something to be proud to make and own.
For the dimensions used in this video above, click here. You can follow the prompts for the downloadable pdf.
This coin rack was actually modelled from a real American flag. To replicate the red, white and blue colours, a mix of different coloured natural wood timbers were used. Walnut for blue, sapele for red and maple for white.
To see a step by step guide with coloured photos on this exact build, click here. This design is brought to you by Mike Merzke from The Inventables.
2. Six Pack Bottle Holder
This Six Pack beer holder is sure to be a winner with most men. This one uses cherry wood and red oak plus you’ll need to have some solid carbide upcut fish tail spiral bits to assist. You will need to have access to 3D carving with this design coming from the program on Easel (from Inventables). Click here for further assistance.
3. Carved Football Play Wall Art
This football play art is inexpensive to make in a short amount of time plus isn’t complicated at all. Would look great in a man cave and welcome gift for the football fan. This one used carbite v-bits (Shank Diameter: 1/4 in, Cutting Diameter: 1/2 in, Tip Angle: 90 Degree, Overall Length: 1.8 in, Ring Color: Green/White). To see it being made on You Tube, click here.
4. Pallet Shelf
Pallet shelves are awesome and you’re likely to hear the phrase, ‘where did you get that?’ This simple one is pretty simple to make and costs hardly anything at all if you have a pallet and a reciprocating saw laying around. For instructions on how to make one, click here.
5. Wooden Ipad Dock
This device is certainly a sign of the times. It always amazes me what people think of and this little beauty is no exception.
It’s great when you can make use of small pieces of wood (and turn them into something useful). You’ll only need a small piece of nice wood (130 x 80 x 24 mm or 5.1 x 3.1 x 0.9 inch if you prefer), a saw, drill, a large diameter drill bit (this one uses a 19mm) and some sandpaper.
For further details on how to make this – including a step by step photo guide, click here.
6.Floating Wine Bottle Holder
I added this one to the list as it’s pretty cool item that you don’t see a lot. It reminds me of something a magician would own!
Being a bit of a science geek, I love how they’ve managed to manipulate the centre of gravity (of the board and full bottle) over the slanted foot it rests upon.
The key to this piece is in the precise cutting of the angle at the bottom and the location of the hole towards the top.
Best to use some type of hard wood (oak etc) plus you will need to have a bottle of wine (or something else eg Martinelli’s) to test it with.
For a full list of instructions and step by step coloured photo guide, click here.
7. Wooden Door Mat
I’m sure we’ve all seen a wide variety of wooden door mats that say all sorts of things to greet guests to our home.
This approach is simple, elegant and classy yet understated.
For a detailed guide on how this wooden mat with rope was made, click here.
8. Jelly Bean Dispenser
Here’s a unique idea that you can build and then enjoy a snack from too! I personally would swap out the jelly beans for M&Ms or Reece’s Pieces but the jelly beans would work well too with my kids.
You will need to have a mason jar and cover with this and have access to a table saw and band/scroll saw.
For a detailed guide on how to make this including materials needed, click here.
9. Poker Card Box
This is definitely a cool gift that you can personalise by engraving a name in the lid.
This one uses African mahogany wood and you’ll need some felt to line the bottom of it. It’s another cool project brought to you by the Inventables using their Easel software. To check out their materials and plan they used to make this, click here.
10. Napkin Holder
This looks great and you’ll only need a few scraps of wood, glue, clamps and a router (with varnish and sandpaper to finish). You could even engrave a name to personalise this for gifting purposes.
To check out the instructions and coloured photo guide to make this little gem, click here.
Final Thoughts……
That’s in for now on our guide of 10 cool things to make out of wood. We will add more things to this list in future as there certainly more cool things out there to make.
In the meantime if you come across other cool projects that you think we should know about, please email me and Ill check it out. Also, if you do end up making any of these projects, please let me know.
You may want to check out our guide on wood projects that sell and different types of hand tools and their uses.