If you’re looking for ideas for holiday gift-giving project, here are five of Canadian Woodworking’s most popular projects for children and the young at heart. All can be made over a weekend or a series of weekday evenings and none require special tools.
While it’s convenient to have a table saw to cut the parts, all these projects can be made using a miter saw. If you lack a drill press, you can use a power drill. This year make the holidays ever more special with handmade gifts.
Make this train set yourself or get some help from one or more ‘locomotive engineers’. If you don’t have a table saw a miter saw will do to cut the parts. It’s just as easy to cut the parts for several train sets as it is for one set. Leave the train unfinished or get out some acrylic paint and go wild.
Just about everyone has a smartphone or tablet these days, and it’s often convenient to be able to use it hands-free. This stand can be made from cabinet grade plywood or sold wood and will hold just about any smart device securely in a vertical position for easy viewing.
Bats are unrivaled for controlling pests like mosquitoes and for both pollinating plants and dispersing seeds. This simple project will give them a nice home. You can use cedar lumber or exterior grade plywood for this project, and either a miter or table saw to cut he internal grooves the bats need to grip the walls once they’re inside the house.
This Oriental-style display stand will look just as good displaying your favourite indoor plant as it will a more traditional bonsai. While a doweling jig makes quick work of drilling all the dowel holes, you can also drill precisely laid out holes freehand using a drill/driver and Forstner drill bit.
These boxes are so easy and fun to make, you won’t know when to stop. Grab a few small pieces of wood and see where this basic starting point takes you. Th only tools you need are a miter or table saw, drill press or drill/driver, 1-1/2″ or larger spade or hole saw bit and a few clamps.
