Awesome Wood

Master woodworker Paul Sellers posted this brief, but hypnotic clip of him carefully using his razor-sharp chisel to create perfect spirals of wood. We wonder how far he could go if he had a really long piece of wood.

LEGO pays tribute to its iconic minifigure with a 5:1 scale version carved from FSC-certified oak with adjustable plastic hands. The 7″ figure looks great as-is, though its surface encourages customization. Includes a gift box, 29 bricks, and a 28-page minifig history leaflet. Available 11/3/19 to LEGO VIP members, then 11/8 for everyone.

The always awesome Chop Shop Store teamed up with The Planetary Society to create 20 wooden blocks, each featuring a planet, dwarf planet, or moon from our solar system, and printed with useful data. They’re also offering space-themed add-ons like posters, tees, and stickers. Shipping starts 11/2019.

These beautiful watch bands are made from real wood which has been engineered for flexibility. They’re backed with leather for comfort, and are available for both Apple Watch or Fitbit Versa watches, in dark teak, light teak, maple, or rosewood. To complete the look, Bandly made a series of matching background screens.

Despite its popularity as a building material, wood is rarely used in the construction of PC cases. Bucking that trend, DIY Perks built a truly unique computer system from wood, with rope trim. We love how he incorporated the air cooling system as a sculptural design element.

Bench vises are typically made from metal. But John Heisz of I Build It decided to see if he could make a fully-functional version of the ubiquitous shop tool from the material it’s typically used to hold in place. Build guide here.

Maker of cool stuff Ollari’s shows us how to turn plywood into a sweet modern ceiling lamp which has a shade made from bent slats placed around its circumference. It actually doesn’t look that hard to do yourself with a little time, effort, and the proper tools.

The Burnt Wood Barrel Co. offers these substantial wooden bar stools, handcrafted from whiskey barrel staves with bent metal back supports. They’re perfect no matter what you’re sipping while hanging out with friends at your kitchen counter.

Artist and woodturner Andy Phillip takes us through the complicated and time-consuming process of gradually refining a hunk of birch tree trunk into a beautiful 7″ globe, complete with the continents, and iridescent blue oceans made from epoxy resin. This isn’t the first time Andy’s made something cool and spherical.

Those pin art boards that you can press your face or other body parts into are cheap and easy to come by. But The Q decided he wanted a much bigger one, so he set about the arduous task of drilling 4,758 tiny holes into plywood, then poking a skewer through each one.

Bob Clagett of I Like to Make Stuff admittedly isn’t a weapon-making expert, but he sure knows his way around a bandsaw. In this clip, he shows us how he used some scraps of hardwood flooring to create a wooden practice katana with some very impressive results.

Maker pocket83 walks us through the painstaking process of building a geodesic sphere which not only looks super cool, but offers up a good challenge for those fascinated with puzzles. See how to assemble the wood pieces and rubber bands here.

A pirate ship meets its ultimate nemesis with these wooden bookends from MokuShop. They’re perfect for housing books about adventures on the open seas. Each one is laser-engraved with intricate details engraved on its surface, and has a non-slip cork bottom.

With enough shop skills and patience, you can turn ordinary sheets of plywood into beautiful patterned works of art. Woodworker Michael Alm takes us through his process as he transforms thin strips of ply into chevron, diamond, basketweave, and other patterns by cutting them at different angles and intervals.

The Japanese craft of Kumiko requires the cutting and assembly of thousands of tiny, carefully cut sticks of wood, each individually placed to form intricate lattice panels. This video from Japan’s Shiroishi Woodworks gives us an idea of the level of effort that goes into each piece, as woodworker Tatsuo Kurozu plies his craft.

Restoration Hardware offers this very substantial version of the classic game of backgammon, including an oversize 38¼” w x 26¼” d, inlayed solid wood game board. We really dig the jumbo checkers in light and dark burnished aluminum.

Flat-pack model makers Ugears offers this very cool kit that lets you build a mechanical monowheel that actually drives. It has retractable training wheels, but can roll without them on smooth surfaces. With 300 parts, it looks like a challenging 3-hour build. No glue required.

Ukraine model designer Denis Ohrimenko of TimeForMachine makes a variety of cool laser-cut wood kits, including a series of awesome robot monsters. Each one has movable legs which can be swapped out with other models. Choose from Scorpio MN 3.1, Scarabeus MN 9.1, Arachnoid MN 2.1, and Prometeus MN 1.1 designs.

DreamFactoryKR’s handmade birch plywood rack is great for keeping pens, pencils, and small tools in order on your desk. It also has a built in dock for phones which has an acoustic amplifier integrated into the wood. Measures 15.35″ x 5.31″ x 2.99″ and is perfect for leatherworking or clay tools.

Ollari’s shows us how to take slats of wood from a rickety old door and pallets to create a nifty new piece of outdoor furniture. If you put your mind to it, it’s amazing what you can achieve with a saw, some screws, and glue. We dig the burnt look of the finished piece.

Jackman Works loves to make things by recycling old wooden shipping pallets. In this video, he takes a bunch of the beat up old wood, slices it into sheets, laminates them, and trims them into some sweet looking, street-style skateboards. It’s interesting to see how he shapes the wood with the vacuum bag.

An artist from Nghệ Nhân Âu Lạc Woodart Vietnam goes Super Saiyan on a block of wood, carving an impressive sculpture of Dragon Ball’s spiky-haired protagonist Goku. His weapons of choice? A chainsaw, an angle grinder, chisels, and a Dremel rotary tool.

Add a splash of color to your desktop with Poco’s wood and resin wrist rest. Its knotty camphor burl wood evokes a sandy beach, while its vivid resin sections are as beautifully blue-green as the South Pacific. Available in 40%, 60%, 65% and tenkeyless sizes. Pre-orders available through 8/7/19.