Awesome Wood

North Drinkware makes these unique drink coasters based on the topography of mountains. Each laser-cut birch wood coaster features a shape and engraving inspired by famous mountain locations, from Oregon’s Mt. Hood to Vermont’s Camel’s Hump. Sold in sets of two. We also love their mountain glassware.

Make Anything’s Tippi Tree is a party game that challenges players to stack and interlock blocks but in a more organic way than Jenga. Maker Devin Montes has now built a giant version of the game out of wood. If you want to play some Tippi Tree for yourself, you can purchase the design for 3D printing from MyMiniFactory.

Artist Frank Howarth is back with another one of his beautiful spherical wood creations. Rather than following a strict, repetitive pattern, its triangular segments have a random look to them.

Ukraine-based shop Flampic makes wonderful wooden desk lamps. Among their creative designs is this adorable dog lamp. Its articulated legs and tail let you pose it in a nearly endless variety of charming poses. Available with metal wing nuts or handcrafted wood hardware.

Artist Reuben Margolin creates kinetic sculptures inspired by nature and math. For his work Caterpillar and Woodpile, he created an articulated robot that moves like a caterpillar and programmed it to climb a woodpile in the shape of a polynomial spline. The machine’s slow crawl is so relaxing to watch.

Unexpected is an expert at building things out of popsicle sticks and glue. Unlike other constructions that still look like sticks, he manages to create objects that look more like carvings from a block of wood. Here, he show off a popsicle Ducati 899 Panigale, which is one of four wooden motorcycles he built.

Thanks to his Swiss heritage, Alexandre Chappel felt obligated to build a timepiece of some sort. So he set about making a unique tabletop clock that tells time on a series of nested circles. He used a CNC machine to cut all of the wooden gears. He should probably add a pointer, so you know where to look for the time.

If you’ve spent any time in Chicago, you might be familiar with the sculptures at the Merchandise Mart known as the PEZ Heads. Paul Jackman built a similarly gargantuan PEZ dispenser, but this one actually works. Though it spits out shoeboxes and has a giant boot on top instead of a character head.

Unidragon’s flat-pack wood model lets you build a miniature muscle car. Clearly inspired by the Ford Mustang, the model has fastback styling, a mini V8 engine, a detailed interior, and its doors, hood, and trunk open. The 230-piece kit comes in red, yellow, or black, and it’s 50% off the original price at the moment.

Gaming accessory maker Wyrmwood’s modular organizer system is ideal for all kinds of tabletop gaming. Its hexagonal wood trays are can holdcards, tokens, dice, and more and snap together using magnets. It’s already a successfully-funded Kickstarter, and Wyrmwood is accepting additional pre-orders now.

Computer speakers aren’t the most elegant things. Matthew of DIY Perks wanted something different, and decided to build a sound system from pieces of bamboo flooring. He built a pair of angled dual-driver speakers and connected them with a monitor stand that houses a subwoofer, amplifier, USB hub, and led lighting.

Hot tubs can be pretty expensive. But not so if you’re a DIYer like HomeMadeModern. In this video, he shows us how he built a rectangular outdoor hot tub from cedar 2x6s and waterproof Flex Seal. A portable water heater and recirculating pump keeps the water nice and toasty.

Pask Makes shows us how wood skewers are good for more than serving kebabs. By stacking, cutting, clamping, and gluing hundreds of sticks, then planing and sanding the result, he created a beautiful cutting board we’d love to have on our kitchen counter.

For those unfamiliar with them, Kapla planks are basically skinny wooden dominoes. You can use them for building structures and knock them, which is more than half the fun. Enjoy a variety of complex structures as they topple in this clip from the aptly-named Kaplamino.

This set of 20 colorful wooden blocks helps kids and adults learn about science and chemistry. 118 of the block faces are printed with the name, symbol, and atomic number of the elements of the periodic table. For fun, see what words you can make by combining elements like “CoBRa” and “BeCoOl.”

There’s a good reason that most saw blades are made from steel. Regardless, the Kurahito Craft channel wanted to see if they could make a circular saw blade out of wood and use it to cut things. It makes quick work of paper and thin sheets of plastic, but can it cut its own kind? Let the wood-on-wood battle begin!

This three-in-one puzzle box features detailed woodcut prints by artist Bryan Nash Gill. He created large-scale relief prints from cross-sections of trees by pressing the rings until they transferred from tree to paper. Each 300-piece puzzle has different colors on the bottom to simplify sorting.

Who says whiskey needs to be served in glass? These contemporary wood cups from MijMoj Design look great and offer a unique way to serve drinks. They’re each handmade from solid oak and can be engraved on the front and/or backsides for a small fee. Sold individually.

We’ve seen some pretty sweet items made from recycled wine and whiskey barrels. In this video from Ryan Hawkins of West Coast Boards, he shows how he broke down two oak barrels and rebuilt their staves into a beautiful, end-grain butcher block that weighs nearly 50 lbs.

In this video from woodworker JAR Made, he how he made a unique accent lamp that lets light shine through gaps cut into a wooden shade. By making horizontal and vertical kerf cuts, he was able to bend the wood into a hyperboloid shape reminiscent of a nuclear cooling tower. He also placed an Alexa voice assistant inside.

In 2021, PC and accessory maker Corsair announced they were making an enormous 20″ square version of one of their PC cooling fans. It turned out to be a joke, but lots of people wanted one anyhow. Rather than wait for Corsair to make good, Angus from Maker’s Muse decided to design and build his own overpowered version.

Proud Owl’s distressed wood rack provides easy access to your vinyl collection. Its asymmetrical design faces half your records forward and the other half sideways. Its right side has just enough room for a turntable or for displaying trinkets. It comes in various colors, with or without legs in 6″, 12″, or 20″ lengths.

Artist and builder Charlie Baker creates incredible sculptures from materials found in nature. Rather than use finished lumber, he works meticulously to preserve the organic shapes and textures of the twigs and branches he uses as his primary medium. WIRED’s Obsessed takes us inside the artist’s mind and process.