10 Easy Scrap Wood Projects (With Video Plans!)

Transcript

if you’re a woodworker like me you probably have scrap wood like this running out your ears but today i’m going to show you 10 of my favorite scrap wood projects to help you eliminate some of that scrap wood in your shop along with video plans to build them probably one of the best scrap wood projects out there is the humble crate these things are super easy to build and they eliminate a lot of scrap wood at the same time i got the original idea to build these crates from steve ramsey’s youtube channel i like his design quite a bit but i decided to add a few things of my own to speed up the process just a little bit i think you’ll like some of these time-saving tricks in this video in addition to that i also made these just a little bit beefier because i decided to use these for another project and i actually think you guys will find this kind of interesting because i use these as drawers in a dresser i designed this is actually one of my favorite projects that i’ve ever made i just think it looks really cool and surprisingly it was pretty simple to make just like all the other videos i’ll be talking about today i’ll go ahead and link this video up in the description as well as you probably already know you can never have too many tools and if you do you can always send those extra tools my way anyways if you do have scrap wood laying around you can easily build your own pocket hole jigs and not only is that good practice for other projects but you can have an extra tool or a tool to give someone else in the process if you don’t know what a pocket hole jig is this is just a tool so you can drill holes at an angle and this can come in handy for a lot of different woodworking projects because you can actually attach screws on the edges of boards and this makes things a lot easier so go ahead and snatch up some of your scrap wood and try your hand at making one of these things these aren’t really that difficult and they don’t take that long at all i’ve actually got a couple videos on a few different ways to make these on a lot of designs you’ll see metal tubing on the inside of these holes to keep the holes from wallowing out when you use it but if you don’t want to spend any money you can make these without that tubing as well and i believe that one of the most important tools you can get when you’re starting anything is experience and building stuff like this will help you get there if you’ve ever worked with plywood you probably noticed that you have these long skinny strips left over at least i do anyways and it seems like you can’t do anything with a piece this size try making your own track saw with that if you have a circular saw this actually cuts up big pieces of plywood a lot easier than a table saw will and this is a super simple project this particular scrap wood project only takes about an hour or so and it’s a lot of fun to build now it is ideal to build these using a table saw but if you don’t have one a circular saw will work as well and once you’re finished with this project this is a nice tool to have because it’s really nice to be able to cut plywood straight and i personally think when you’re cutting big pieces of plywood this is a lot easier to deal with than the circular saw but don’t take my word for it try making one for yourself you might as well do something with that extra plywood now i don’t want to toot my own horn but another easy scrap wood project that you might like is a simple toy whistle this one’s super easy to build and it’s really quick i had a lot of fun making this project and i actually had a few failed attempts before i made this one that actually worked one of my favorite things about youtube is that you can learn how to do just about anything on there with this little scrap wood project not only did i learn something new but i also had a little gift to give to a friend works pretty good you have to admit this is kind of a cool little project only about a week after i built that whistle my brother-in-law shot me a text and said that he could toot louder than me and so i was a little bit jealous and what i mean by that is he built a train whistle and now i’m kind of jealous of his train whistle i thought this was kind of a cool project because he used a scrap 2×2 to build it and now i kind of want to make one for myself he actually made this look pretty simple and i think it turned out pretty cool but don’t tell him i said so here’s a really simple scrap wood project that i use all the time it’s a half sheet sanding block this is a super easy project and it really doesn’t take that much time to build and this thing comes in handy and i have a lot of sanding equipment but i end up using this a lot for different things to make one of these you can use just about any scrap wood you have laying around but three quarter inch material works best and that’s because in this video i give you the exact dimensions so you don’t have to use trial and error like i did plus i think it’s kind of cool that this thing uses a cabinet hinge so it can open and close so once again after you build this project not only do you get experience but you get a new tool and who doesn’t want that and now those tight corners are no match for this guy if you only have small pieces of scrap wood laying around and you need just a little bit of storage try making the hanging basket these are really similar to the crates but they actually hang on the wall and these are really easy to make depending on the scrap wood i have laying around i can make one of these in about 10 minutes they’re super simple especially if you have an 18 gauge brad nailer like i do if you don’t have one of these no big deal regular finishing nails work just fine for this particular hanging basket i actually use strips of lattice to make the sides but you could also rip up two by fours or other dimensional lumber to make these pieces but as you can see these are pretty cool because this flat side allows you to hang it on the wall then this makes a great place to hide all your junk when company comes over and as you know it’s all about keeping up with appearances another project that’s really fun to build are kids chairs these eliminate medium sized pieces of scrap wood and kids love them because they feel bigger than they actually are and adults love them because the kid actually sits still for five minutes now obviously there’s a million different designs out there for kids chairs this is just a simple design that you can make out of scrap wood you have laying around think about all the scrap wood you could eliminate if you built four chairs and a table to go with it and i don’t know about you but when i was a kid i always thought little stuff like this for my room was pretty cool if you need more shelves somewhere don’t go waste money at lowe’s or home depot on shelf racks build yourself some corbels instead these are a great way to eliminate that scrap wood now i built a lot of corbels over the years but this particular video was made by my brother-in-law so it just proves the point that not only are these easy to make but there’s about a million different ways you can make them and who couldn’t use just a few more shelves in their house and you do the math if these things are like five dollars at lowe’s or home depot and you’re going to be putting a lot of shelves in your house this could save you a lot of money if you just build these corbels yourself and you can easily make a lot of these from the scrap wood you have laying around now for a scrap wood project that makes the perfect gift idea handmade cutting boards like this make the perfect gift for christmas birthdays and even valentine’s day i gave this cutting board to my wife for valentine’s day about two years ago and it was such a hit that she hasn’t asked for another valentine’s day gift since and i knew it was going to be a hit because i’ve laid a nice big bass on it and it works super well and i knew she was going to be excited so i cleaned it up for it and wrapped it up and it was a perfect gift or you know if you have scrap hardwood laying around that works too and you know cutting boards are pretty easy to make especially if you have some kind of planer but if you don’t have a planer this particular design is made so you don’t need one i know that’s probably the biggest limiting factor when you’re first getting started you don’t have a lot of the tools you need to make certain things and this particular video will help eliminate that problem and even now i actually only have an electric hand planer so i kind of prefer this method for making cutting boards if you do decide to watch this video just ignore the fact that i could have used a little bit better wood to make this thing i just used the scrap wood that i had laying around and it still made a perfect gift and it’s still going strong today i think it turned out pretty decent for just a bunch of scrap wood don’t you especially since i don’t know what i’m doing now for the 10th and final scrapbook project i have for you today is toy logs this one is a really cool project if they’re not really that hard to build they’re a little bit time consuming but they’re a lot of fun and the kids love them this particular design uses three quarter inch material because that’s what i had most of laying around i also wanted to eliminate as much routering as possible to save a little bit of time i made all these pieces from scrap what i had laying around and today i’ll show you how to make all these individual pieces and that way when you get bored in your shop you can have something to play with or if you like your kids you can build these for them as well and as i mentioned in the video if you just leave these square instead of rounding the edges you can build a lot of these really quickly but i like the log look so i went ahead and rounded my edges but this is a really fun project to make out of scrap wood and maybe you can get your kids faces out of their tablets thanks for joining me today on diy man if you enjoyed this video would you smash that like button i’ll send you the charcuterie board if you do keep hitting that i believe button i’ll see you in the next one subscribe

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