Simple Xmas ideas..

[Sam Berlyn]

I would like to show off my woodworking skills (not that many I must say!) by making Xmas pressies for friends/relatives

Anyone got any ideas?

I've got a drill, jigsaw, ROS , Compound mitre saw, router, & numerous handtools.

Any ideas appreciated.

Ta,

Sam

[Mark Jerde]

(We had a conversation in abpw.... )

For usefulness (IMO ) it is hard to beat turning two pieces of wood into an inclined desktop bookcase. See abpw.

-- Mark

[bridger]

work small. use the maximum you can from the wood. get good wood.

make stuff people need. useless gift items suck.

boxes are always in style. cutting boards.

[Sam Berlyn]

Lol

Sam

[jo4hn]

trivits, picture frames, key chain fobs,... j4

[Dave Mundt]

good news. both you and your family win when you do this. They get a unique present...you increase your skill levels.

Hum.. An interesting assortment of tools. Hopefully you have a chunk of time in the next week or two to get these done. I know that *I* am woefully short of time...but, that is just me *smile*.

1) Boxes (as mentioned in other posts) are always good. With a good miter bit in the router, you can make nice, accurate joints that will glue up tight. I would use a fairly nice, figured wood for these...say, Bird's Eye or Quilted Maple, etc. Boxes are a good choice too, because you can cut out a bunch of them in a batch, so, it can go quickly. Since you really need about a week for the finish to set properly, speed is good here. Also, I see you list a jigsaw...Get some good blades, and, you can quickly cut out patterns from the sides or lid of the box...(although that DOES add to the work). 2) Jigsaw puzzles. Make a nice, smooth rectangle of a pretty (but not overly figured) wood and cut a 15-20 piece jigsaw puzzle out of it. Good for all...better for the younger crowd. 3) A jigsawed manger scene, with a wooden box to hold all the pieces would be good. I made several of these some years ago, and, (to combine genres), the box was the "stable", and, there was pretty much only ONE way all the pieces would fit into it.

Good luck. Dave Mundt

[Andy Dingley]

Go to the library (big library). Thumb through a bunch of books. A stream of pictures will give you more ideas than text usenet can.

You can make 4 matching pieces in the time of 2 different ones.

Make things people want - as bridger put it so well, "useless gifts suck"

At a guess, jigsawn plywood shapes with routed edges are going to figure highly. It's a quick technique and lets you make lots of different things with the same skills. Use _good_ birch ply - it'll save a lot of effort on getting a decent finish, and the surface and edges are usually good enough to look attractive just under a couple of coats of shellac.

If you get a sheet of 1/2" or 3/8" birch ply in now, and keep the bottom edge off the ground so it doesn't get wet, you'll never regret having it around. You can make lots of stuff from this.

You have very little time left !

[Richard Clements]

I like making keepsake boxes and serving trays, there simple and with a little work very nice, upholster the inside of the keep sake box by cutting a pice of paper board to fit each side then put a little pice of Quilt batting for padding on it then wrap and then cut a pice of fabric so it's

3/4" wider on all side then your panel with the corners cut diagonally so there isn't overlay on the back then glue the fabric to the panel using fabric tace, contact cement, etc. then glue the panel into your box, turns a so-so box into something much more attractive, here are some of the one I made last year, on the project name or image to see more pics of that project and yes the site is ugly, it's under construction, I work on computes all day at work so when I get home for some reason I'm more interested in working in the shop then on my web site, imagine that :)

Sam Berlyn wrote:

[J T]

Simple Xmas ideas.. Group: rec.woodworking Date: Sat, Dec 4, 2004, 7:16pm (EST+5) [e-mail] (Sam=A0Berlyn) wonders: Anyone got any ideas?

Of course. Impress the crap out of them with hand-made personal treasure chests.

You really need to start checking the archives.

JOAT Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind dont matter, and those who matter dont mind.

- Dr Seuss

[Henry Q. Bibb]

Back when I was starting out, I made some octagonal, tapered planter/wastebasket things. Several of them are still in use, close to 20 years later..

Henry