Make a wooden wall hanging showing off where you live

Been wondering what to do with all those tiny scraps of wood youve been saving? Heres a project you can make in no time flat. Gather up a mixed bag of cut-offs or pallet wood, glue them to a board and cut out the shape of your home state, province or country.

Make your own and post a video!
Shoot a short video of what you made and post it as a video response to my video on YouTube*. I think it will be fun to see all the places people are woodworking.

Find a map that you want by doing a quick Google Images search, print it out, paste it on your boards and cut it out with a jig saw, scroll saw, or band saw.

I made my home state out of various scraps of pallet wood. The interesting thing about pallets is that the wood all ages differently, giving you different hues and colors.

For my second cut-out, I used a map of Brazil. I wanted to give a shout-out to my Portuguese-speaking friends in South America. Over the years of doing Woodworking for Mere Mortals, I have made friends with quite a few Brazilian woodworkers who I have found to be among the most creative people I know. Olá amigos! Obrigado pelo vosso apoio. (I hope Google Translate didnt just mangle that!)

*****

*How to post a video response on YouTube

If you have never posted a video response before, it is not apparent how to do it on first glance. On most videos you will see a comment box:







Click anywhere inside the box and you will get an option to post a video response:

From there, you can upload a new video or choose one from your own channel. 

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a hanging chestnut swing

 well ok, this was a fun one ... this week well deliver it to the walnut trestle table house we visited back in december.  weve got a curved project coming up there, so well get to check our templates for the next project while we are there.  click the photos to enlarge them.

  check out the video of the test hanging here ...

 

 we started with an inspiration photo from our designer client, jennifer palumbo interiors, of newton, massachusetts, which we translated into the drawing above.  it looks pretty straightforward, but has the classic three way intersection joinery challenge, coupled with an outside installation situation, and the ability to seat three (at least) people.  so, we had some serious, long term structural considerations.  we chose reclaimed chestnut for the wood as it has a reputation that in outside use, it last two years less than stone.  in fact, i have some chestnut fence posts in the woods, by the corner of my property, still sound, and surrounded by 65 year old trees.  good enough for me.

 

first set of corners was easy.  bridle joints on the table saw all around.

                                   

i made a sample corner, which i later changed to a square tenon on the ends of the crosspieces, and inserted 1/2" x 6" stainless steel hanger bolts through the bridle joints, with stainless washers and bolts securing them.

the assemble corner sample

                                   

the brain storm was using the assembled bench to drill the pilot holes for the hanger bolts.  by carefully drilling centered holes in the corners of the end assemblies with the pilot bit on the drill press, i had a guide for drilling the 3" deep pilot holes for the hanger bolts.  i then disassembled everything, drilled the holes in the ends sections large enough for the hanger bolts to pass through, reassembled everything, and inserted the hanger bolts with the bench already put together.  otherwise, it was almost impossible to get those 6" long bolts in straight. 

lots of mortising and tenoning later, we had the bench below.

 

  we hung it in the shop and grabbed some cushions from the lounge chairs in the office and had a swing.

  the springs and hardware gave the whole deal a wonderful feeling, even with three of us and wills dog in it.  be sure to check the video ... its one of our best.

the finished bench color with the sample of the rough sawn siding

i found the perfect swing hardware and springs online and they are sweet.

the custom forged steel swing hooks that sam made for this project

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