Sellable Wood Crafts

Make affordable woodcrafts from almost any kind of wood.

Many of those who go into business forget that overhead can be overwhelming. If you keep it simple, producing small woodcraft items built out of scraps, can help beat high overhead costs. You can produce crafts that people want in bulk. Small items that are used every day in almost every home. Create products that can be built fast without having complex blueprints or time-consuming labor costs. Keep it simple, by avoiding crafts that involve intensive skills, yet still produce wood crafts that sell.

Picture Frames

You can make picture frames out of any kind of wood. It can be old, weathered, cracked, discolored or splintered. It doesn't matter. There are buyers for all kinds of frames. Collect old barn-wood. Use cast-off crooked wood from lumber yards. Go to cabinet shops and dig through the scraps. You can use a miter saw and cut a 45-degree miter on four corners, or just butt the ends together for a rustic look. You can stain them, or leave them weathered. Invest in a small pin nail gun to shoot nails into the corners. These small nails are almost invisible and hold incredibly well.

Light Switch Covers

Every home needs light switch covers. They can be made with thin, one-quarter-inch plywood or hardwood. You can cut them out on any kind of a saw -- a miter saw works best -- and then drill two holes in the center with a drill bit. Use a chisel to cut the hole square for the light switch. If you make the covers out of hardwood, you can stain and lacquer them. If you use other plywood, you can paint or paint abstract designs on the covers. These are inexpensive to make and with the proper customization, you can sell them for a substantial gain.

Vents

Hardwood vents are exclusive. Typically, you can only find them in high-end homes. They are attractive and work just like any other metal vent. Hardwood vents can be made almost as easy as light switch covers because they are typically thin, rectangular and usually no bigger than 12-by-6 inches, although you can custom make them to fit any size vent. To make hardwood vents, place a one-sixteenth-inch narrow kerf blade on the saw. Lower the saw blade below the surface of the table saw. Place the vent over the blade. Turn on the saw and crank the blade up to cut slots about one-quarter inch apart parallel to each other across the width of the vent in a grid pattern.

Cutting Boards

One of the oldest wood craft items is still one of the best. Common cutting boards, or bread boards, are still used frequently in the modern home. Typically, cutting boards are expensive because they are made with multiple pieces of lumber glued together and sanded smooth. These are very labor intensive. You can make simple less expensive cutting boards with plywood. Just glue a piece of hardwood to both ends of the board. This keeps the cutting board flat and it will remain stable for years to come. They are lighter, and work just as well as any expensive butcher-block board at a fraction of the cost.