Things You'll Need:
- 1x1x8-inch piece of wood
- Pencil
- Carving knife
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Step 1
Measure and mark four lines on each end of the piece of wood. They should each be parallel to one edge of the wood, 1/4 inch away from that edge. The end result should look something like a plus sign with a square drawn in its center. Make sure you've drawn the same pattern on both ends of the wood.
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Step 2
Use your carving knife to carve out the corners of the plus sign all the way down the length of the wood. You should be left with a 1/4-inch right-angled notch where each corner of the wood piece used to be; if you cut straight through it on a cross section that cross section would look like a plus sign.
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Step 3
Draw in the shape of the chain links. Start with the up-and-down arms of the plus sign and draw in 2-inch-wide links, edge to edge, all the way down the piece of wood. Then draw in the links on the left and right arms of the plus sign, again edge to edge, with their meeting points in the middle of the links on the up-and-down arms.
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Step 4
Cut through the joined edges of side-by-side links on the up-and-down arms of the plus sign with a small saw. Cut down to the center square of wood in the plus sign, but not through it yet.
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Step 5
Cut through the joined edges of the side-by-side links on the left-and-right arms of the plus sign, again making sure to cut down to the center square of wood that runs down the middle of the plus sign, but not through it.
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Step 6
Carve the links out from the wood, using your carving knife to carefully cut away the wood from inside each link. Be mindful of where the adjacent links meet in the middle of each link. Don't cut through those links; just cut around them to remove any excess wood.
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Step 7
Sand the finished product carefully to smooth the link surfaces out---if you get too overeager with the sanding you might grind right through it---starting with 200-grit sandpaper and working your way up to 400-grit.
