Woodworking for beginners
Getting your feet wet and exploring your new found love of woodworking as a hobbyist can be very exciting but suffering the often experienced frustration of a lack of inspiration is not so much.
It is for that reason we have composed a short list of our favorite woodworking projects for beginners.
All of the projects on our list are projects I have built myself when I was settling into the wonderful world of woodworking.
1. Magic key hanger – Super easy
Skill: Absolute beginner
Power tools required: Basic
To start off our list we have the very simple, fun and quick to make, magnetic key hanger. It makes use of rare earth magnets embedded into a piece of wood to produce a floating effect when pushing your keys up against it.
This low labor project can be made in as little as 30mins and has a fair amount of wiggle room for the woodworker to explore their creativity. With the only constant being the magnets, the woodworker can use any type of lumber, shape and finish to produce a look to suit the style of the room the hanger will be used in.
2. Wall Clock – Very easy
Besides being another easy woodworking project, it also allows the woodworker to get creative.
Expense: Low
Skill required: Absolute beginner
Power tools required: Low to medium depending on design
Making a wooden wall clock involves decorating a piece of lumber in any way the woodworker sees fit and thereafter simply cutting a hole to fit a clock mechanism into it.
The clock face in our tutorial was made from a wine barrel top and a couple of store-bought numbers. The mechanism was salvaged from an inexpensive clock and installed into the new, more appealing, clock face.
Click for more detailed tutorial on making a wine barrel clock
3. Hardwood chopping board – Easy
Chopping boards are one of my personal favorites when it comes to beginner projects. They are simple enough to build and can produce beautiful results when mixing and matching different species of wood. The only downside to this fun project is it often requires a table saw, a power tool that is not as common in the community of beginners.
Skill: Beginner
Power tools required: Basic + table saw
Making a chopping board involves laminating segments of the same or different species of hardwood together to form one solid board. This is done by gluing and clamping the selection of lumber and allowing it to cure properly.
After the glue has cured, the surfaces are simply sanded to a smooth finish and the board is treated.
Learn how to make a chopping board
4. DIY wooden guitar stand – Easy
Another favorite is the easy build hardwood guitar stand/hanger. It can easily be made using only the power tools on our beginner essentials list.
Expense: Low to medium depending on the type of wood
Skill: Beginner
Power tools required: Basic
This beautiful stand can be made by simply cutting its 3 components from a single plank using a jigsaw, sanding, and assembling.
You can get the pattern for the stand here.
5. Raised dog feeding station – Medium difficulty
A raised platform to hold a dog’s bowls and a drawer for food storage.
Making a raised station for mans best friend is also a great project for a beginner. Though slightly more complicated than the other projects on our list it can also be built with the beginner essentials in terms of power tools.
Expense: Medium
Skill: Beginner
Power tools requirements: Basic
Making the raised dog feeder involves sizing of lumber and assembling with screws. After the box is built the woodworker cuts holes for the bowls and the doggy is ready to eat.
Click for cutting list and diagram of feeder assembly
I’m definitely not a handy person like this, the last thing I made was a coffee table in Grade 9 shop class. Although oddly enough one of my sisters still uses it 23 year later so I must have done a good job on it. Haha.
I just bookmarked this article to talk to my dad about since
he’ll have the tools and I want my return to wordworking to be that Magic Key Hanger! Can the magnets be found at a hardware or other type of store also? Hoping to pick them up on the way out of town tomorrow to unexpectedly talk my dad into making it with me Saturday Morning. Haha.
– Bill
Hey There Bill.
The Magic Magnetic Key Hanger is indeed a fun project.
The magnets, being rare earth, may not be a stock item at your local hardware store but it should not be too hard to find a supplier in your area online.
Normal ceramic magnets, that are much more readily available, will unfortunately not do the trick as they are less than 10% the strength of rare earth magnets.
Alternatively, you can buy rare earth magnets from Amazon.
Hope this is helpful.
Jean
Wow like your site. Fun to navigate.
It gave me a lot of inspiration! New things I can do with my kids.
I will visit your site now and then for more inspiration.
Great stuff Angelina
See you soon!
Jean
I always wanted to be able to make something but really never knew where to start. I love the raised dog dish and thanks to the video, it is on my project list for next weekend. Thank you for sharing and I look forward to learning about some new things that I can embark on in the future.
Great to hear Lisa.
I’m working on some more fun projects for beginners that should be making it onto the page soon so remember to pop around when you get the chance.
Cheers.
Jean
I consider myself a semi-advanced woodworker. I have to say that I love some of your ideas and easy instructions to make them!
Glad to see someone out there teaching step by step.
Going to try the Guitar Holder Project!
Hi Clyde
We do try to give our readers as much info as possible to build our projects.
The guitar stand is one of my personal favorites.
Best of luck with the build.
Jean
Wow that wall clock looks fantastic, some great ideas here. Next time I have the spare time im definitely going to make that wall clock, the magnetic key hanger would really benefit me too as I can never seem to remember where I put my keys!
Hey Kourtney.
Glad you like the post. We will be adding more low cost, low labor projects soon so pop around when you get a chance, alternatively, you can subscribe and receive an email notification when we post new projects.
Jean
Wow! I really like the clock! Hopefully I’ll get some time to work on one of these soon. I love adding stuff to my home that has a more rustic feel to it.
Hi Vee,
Yes, Rustic is very popular and reclaiming and repurposing wood is a great way to make rustic furniture.
I’m actually working on a very nice rustic farm-style dining table. I’ll be posting a video of the build to my Youtube channel soon so be sure to check it out.
Jean
Great website Jean. I am a bit of a handy man too in my spare time, not only creating stuff with wood, but also repairing just about everything, so I enjoyed watching your videos. It’s so simple, it is just a question of having an idea and do something about it.
Thanks for sharing and I look forward to more of your tutorials.
John ツ
Hi there John
We sound a lot alike. I’m a full-time electrician with a passion for working with wood and spend my time tinkering with everything in between.
It’s a very satisfying feeling doing something yourself.
Thanks for stopping by.
Jean
Wow great project, Diesel is a handsome fellow sure he appreciates his new Feeding Station. Hope he is well.