Easy to Make ~ Baseball Cap Rack

Baseball Cap Rack

For rookie woodworkers with a fondness for baseball, this stylized cap rack is sure to hit a home run.

It’s the sort of project that makes learning woodworking techniques fun, and it’s the perfect addition to any fan’s bedroom, or a great gift. Standing 54" tall, it can accommodate as many as eight caps, so along with displaying your favorite baseball team, there’s room for caps from your other favorite sports and hobbies.

Making this 
rack will give beginning woodworkers the opportunity to learn and practice a few important, fundamental techniques, such as measuring and marking, making straight and curved cuts, doing precision wood boring, and shaping edges with a router. And when it’s all assembled, you’ll learn more about applying and using stains and finishes to protect the wood and keep it looking beautiful.

For complete, FREE woodworking plans:

http://www.minwax.com/wood-projects/pdfs/beginner-project-baseball-cap-rack.pdf

How To Bend Wood With a Jig

Learn how to bend wood with a jig with these instructions.  In this example, we learn techniques necessary to make an awesome coat/hat rack.
Find the full instructions for this project at lowescreativeideas .com
To make your wood bending jig, you will need a melamine shelf board, a backer, angle blocks, a clamping block and clamps.
Attache the backer along the back of the melamine shelf. Attache the two bending blocks to the face of the shelf. If you're bending multiple pieces of wood, mark reference lines.
Use thin flexible wood. Laminate the wood together. Lay the laminated wood on the jig with the two ends touching the angle blocks. Pull the wood back toward the backer, and put a clamping block in place and tighten slowly with a clamp. Add clamps to each end of the clamping block. Add clamps at the angle blocks. Let dry.

Faith Makes It Possible

Sonic Boom

“Faith makes it possible to achieve that which man's mind can conceive and believe”. Bruce Lee

Veneer Sphere Birdhouses

Veneer Sphere Birdhouse

Use simple strips of wood veneer edge banding to form a brilliant decorative birdhouse. Our how-to video will help you get the ball rolling.

Skill level: Intermediate
Estimated Cost: $19 plus stain
Time Estimate: 2 hours plus drying

Tools:

• Scissors
• Glue gun and glue sticks
• Double-sided tape
• Large plastic or Ziploc bags
• Large piece of cardboard
• Sharpie
• Measuring tape
• Center of a tape roll (or other round object)
• Rag

Step 1. Cut two pieces of double-sided tape and place them on a large piece of cardboard about 20" apart. Repeat with six additional sets of double-sided tape.

Step 2. Cut seven strips of wood veneer banding -- starting at 24", then increasing the length by about 1/2" with each successive strip. Place these on the seven sets of tape.

Step 3. Stain the veneer strips with a 1" foam brush. Wipe the stain off with a lint-free rag, then let dry.

Step 4. Repeat Steps 1–3, staining additional sets of veneer strips in different colors. (We used four colors altogether, and left one set of strips unstained, so that we had 35 total strips.)

Step 5. Put all the smallest strips from the five sets into a bag labeled “1,” the second-smallest strips into a bag labeled “2,” and so on until you have seven bags.

Step 6. Take a strip from bag 1, form a circle with it, and hot-glue the two ends together. Repeat with the rest of the strips from bag 1, placing the circles around one another to begin forming a ball. Repeat this process with the strips from bags 2 and 3.

Step 7. After you’re finished with bag 3, establish where the birdhouse entrance will be by lodging a round object -- such as the center of a roll of tape -- into the ball. (You’ll work around this until it’s removed.) Then add the remaining sets of strips to the ball, covering up any big holes as you go along.

Step 8. Remove the round object (the birdhouse entrance). Insert a rope through a small hole in the top of the birdhouse, feed it through the entrance, tie a knot, then pull it back into the ball and hang.

You'll find these full directions and video at http://www.lowescreativeideas.com/idea-library/projects/Veneer_Sphere_Birdhouse.aspx

 

Kid's Wood Crafts at Parent.com

I have to share this wonderful collection of Kid's Wood Crafts I found on, Parent.com.

Train with Tracks:  "Your child will delight in playing conductor with this easy-to-make train and track set.
Make It: Give your child three wooden blocks, a wooden spool, and six pieces of wagon-wheel pasta to paint. Cut a chipboard rectangle for the top of the train and two squares for train windows; let your child paint the pieces. Once the chipboard is dry, glue the pieces together as shown. Glue a tuft of cotton to the spool for smoke.
To make the tracks, cut a strip of chipboard a little wider than the length of one mini craft stick. Glue mini craft sticks at short intervals along the strip and top with regular craft sticks. For extra fun, create several sets of tracks for your child to place together."

There are a dozen cool crafts listed there.  You have to check it out:  http://www.parents.com/fun/arts-crafts/kid/simple-wood-crafts/#page=1