I know! This is an article about Christmas and it’s only September! It is still summer after all. I’m certainly not in a hurry to see winter. But we all know how quickly Christmas arrives and if you love woodworking, you know that friends and family love to receive handmade gifts made with love. So you might need some ideas for Christmas gifts that are unique and quick to make. In addition they are useful and beautiful and they will be treasured for years.
Here is a list of 5 great Christmas Gift suggestions that I know you will love to make and your friends and family will be thrilled to receive. Keep a look out for the next installment where I will give you at least another 5 gift ideas.
Turned Candlesticks
Candlesticks can be a special and personal gift that can be made to suit the recipient. They can be elegant or rustic. You can make them to fit tapers or tea lights. The variety of styles is only limited by your imagination. A great site for ideas and patterns of Candlesticks can be found at
http://www.woodturningonline.com/Turning/Turning_projects.php?catid=19
Turned Pepper Mill
A Turned Pepper Mill is not only an excellent gift for a cook; it is great fun to turn. Depending on your choice of wood or woods, you can make something attractive and functional or something that makes a bold statement in a designer kitchen! A great source on how to make a peppermill can be found at http://www.woodworkersguide.com/2008/10/17/how-to-turn-a-pepper-mill/ .
Wooden Turned Spurtle
A Spurtle is a kitchen implement originally used for stirring oatmeal and will look great hanging in any kitchen. This very unique gift idea will be loved by all the cooks you know and a great topic of conversation over dinner. A Spurtle is an ideal starter project for the new wood turner. For the more experienced turner, using different varieties of wood can make this project a little more challenging. For some examples of Spurtles check out Spurtle http://www.woodworkersguide.com/2008/10/24/spurtles-spurtles-rah-rah-rah/
A Wooden Travel Mug
I was reading a wood turners forum today and came across a really excellent idea for a gift. A wooden Travel Mug can be made from a solid block of wood, several pieces of wood that are glued together, or by creating a stave assembly. You will need a kit to make this coffee mug and this can be purchased from https://www.rockler.com/?page=19667&site=ROCKLER to name one source.
Turned Wooden Kitchen Scoops
One of the most fun projects I’ve made is the basic kitchen scoop that you can use for anything from your flour canister to your candy bowl. It’s both attractive and utilitarian. It is also a challenge to make. Follow this link to an article by the great turner Richard Raffan. http://www.ghwg.ca/techniques/scoopsraffan.pdf. This article gives you great, easy to follow instructions and it is also an interesting read that gives you some insight into the turning techniques of Richard Raffan. I have used this exact article to make one of these scoops and see picture for results.
Kitchen Scoop
