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So I need help with an idea
We are strapped for money and my time is tight. My wife wants me to make her brother a wedding gift. I am working 60 hours a week right now and money is tight. So that was my time/cash budget in the title.
With moderate skills and the said cash and time what would you make?
Thanks for your help
Dave
How about a clock of some sort. I made my brother and his wife a really simple clock (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ighlight=clock) a couple years ago in about 2 hours, including finishing. Materials probably cost < $10 for this one. You probably have 10x the time and materials budget.
Dave,Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Dionne
Follow Grant's lead and make them a cutting board! Using a combination of woods like maple and purpleheart, maple and walnut, maple and cherry or use your imagination and use three woods. Use a variety of widths or cut all pieces the same width and mix the colors.
You could also do a small cheese board to accompany the cutting board. Use the same combination of woods and pattern and make a circular (or other shape) cheese board.
It's amazing how seemingly simple projects like this are so well received.
:)
How about a nice dovetail box to hold pictures. You could make the lid double as a frame for 2 or 3 photos depending on the size. And a small box would certainly fall under budget to the point that you might be able to use a piece of exotic wood to make it special.
cheers
Pat
I'll second the clock. 8 days with your schedule is pushing it though...you might consider giving them a card with a pic of the design along with a little "IOU" explanation. Then you can relax and build it right....handmade gifts tend to get more leniency. :)
Here's one I made for my bro's wedding 2 years ago:
A custom made cutting board.
Mine sits on the counter, and visitors to my home always comment on how nice it looks, and can I make them one.
Short money, minimal time, dependant on your design.
As an idea. Mine is two sided, one side with a drip groove, the other standard flat for cutting veggies and stuff.
Good luck in your decision
Thanks All
Maybe a clock, I already suggested a cutting board but my wife shot that one down by saying neither one cooks( I said it was about time they learn he is going on 40) I have made segmented boards like the one here in the woodworking articles and I have made end grain boards similar to what they had in Wood magazine.
Maybe a shaker clock
Thanks again Dave
You guys are all much nicer and much harder workers than I am. If I was working 60 hours a week I'd send my wife with the $100 somewhere to go buy her brother something and hope that she came home with enough change for beer and pizza. :D
Honestly, I'd skip the cutting board idea - that can really turn into a lot of sanding, i.e. hours and work. Glue-up, planing/sanding, routing the drip groove, routing the edges.... its not that bad, but not the best alternative IMO. I like Matt's clock idea a lot better and it seems like a very efficient project, both time and money.
How about a nicely framed mirror. You could pick up a beveled edge mirror at the local borg and then pick out some really nice moldings (somewhere else). It would be like making a mitered picture frame, but with a mirror instead.
Or a free-standing 5 or 6 foot tall mirror. If you kept the design simple and didn't go overboard on the variety of wood, I think that you might be able to come in under $100. I have a friend who made one of these for each of his sister-in-laws and it was a big hit - they still have them 25 years later.
RC
Maybe something like this, but with a simpler leg design-
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html...sin=B000F8S8SI
I don't have a photo with me at the moment, but a long time ago I made a serving tray by buying a set of 6 painted ceramic tiles at Lowe's and then building the tray around it. The tiles have a fruit basket type scene. The tray is maybe 2-1/2 inches deep or so, with handle-holes cut in the ends. I dovetailed the corners, but there's lots of ways it could be done.
The tiles are glued to a plywood bottom, butted tight together, and not grouted (okay, maybe I didn't follow through so well on the functional part -- but it sure looks nice!).
Plus it skips the cooking part and goes right to serving!
A set of three cutting boards of various sizes from Carving board to small cheese serving board.
Or, it they are into Sushi, a set of 4 sushi serving tables.
This is an easy one. Make them a $100 check and put into an nice envelope with a nice card. When I got married about 20 years ago my favorite gifts were checks because that's what we really needed. My wife's side of the family all gave us money. My side of the family all gave us stuff. Most of the stuff was more or less unwanted things like a fondue pot. The only handmade gift I remember getting was some sort of embroidered wall hanging thingy. It stayed in the closet until they came over and then back into the closet it went. I know you can say, "It's the thought that counts" and that my side of the family all put more time and thought into the gift. Well, Her side of the family all thought that we would rather have the money to buy what we liked/needed, and they were right. I understand the sentiment of giving something handmade but it sounds like you're too busy to do this with a happy mood and that's supposed to be the way you build something. Another thing is, what part of this handmade gift will your wife contribute? The wrapping? Cash says it's from both of you. That's how I would do it anyway.
Bruce
"... more or less unwanted things like a fondue pot..."
Ha! Ain't that the truth! My wife and I got an electric egg poacher and we were living in a cabin with no electricity! I took it to a pawn shop unopened and I couldn't even get the guy to give me a buck for it!
A number of years back my brother in law made a bunch of trivets for Christmas gifts. He glued nice 12" square decorative ceramic tiles to pieces of plywood, wrapped them with a simple wood band and put some rubber feet on the bottom. Simple, very nice and very useful. Every time someone in our rather large extended family visits another, there's one of those trivets on the table. There's nothing like a gift that someone you know and love made for you. Of course, I never heard anyone complain about getting some dough.....
A simple cutting board is fast, easy, and cheap to build assuming you have a way to trim and surface the glue-up.
Scott