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Little things, such as allowing a child to spend time in your shop, can shape their future. I first learned about exploding outhouses when I was about six or seven. Maybe you’ve seen them: little [...]

Handmade gifts are one of the most personal ways to say that you love someone. No matter what their interest, you’re sure to find something they’ll enjoy on this list. Most of these gifts can be [...]

Create a classic in an afternoon. Whenever I visited my grandmother, I got to play a game with marbles on a round wooden board. My grandmother called it “Marble Solitaire.” You may know it [...]

Since my early days in architecture school, I have been fascinated with masonry and stone arches. Arches are a wonder of both simplicity and complexity. How seemingly impossible is it that a [...]

Add artful accents to a play table. Project #1914 • Skill Level: Beginner • Time: 1 Day • Cost: $150 Last Christmas my wife and I introduced our young boys to LEGO. This was a good reminder that [...]

Notch a few sticks and drive your friends crazy. Something’s got to give when pieces of wood intersect at 90˚ angles. That’s the reality behind the curious assemblies shown here. [...]

Dado a few sticks, then practice your ABCs. Think twice before you take this puzzle apart. It has six faces, each face has nine squares and each square is lettered. That’s two complete alphabets [...]

Easy to make, easy to assemble and built to last. Back in the Paleozoic era, when I was a kid, one of my favorite pastimes was playing with a Brio wooden train set. I spread the tracks all over [...]

Editor’s note: With the holidays upon us, we’re looking through the magazines and books we own for fun handmade gifts – things that you can build in not too much shop time, but that will [...]