One Woodworker’s Use of His Skills to Create Gifts

A woodworking hobby can benefit not only yourself but many others around you as well. Take the example of Brian Peppel, husband of freelance writer Sarah Peppel, who used a beginning in easy woodworking as a springboard to more advanced projects which he shares with family and others. Like Brian Peppel, you can use your woodworking skills to create gifts by duplicating existing projects, creating wooden toys for children in need, and making unique gifts for family members that have special meaning.

Peppel has created projects by taking the measurements of what he wants to create and drawing up his own plans. In so doing, he adds his own touch to the project. On one occasion, he made a piano bench for his sister-in-law by measuring professionally made piano benches at a music store and then drawing his own plans. He also created a dollhouse shelf by studying one in a Pottery Barn catalog and drawing up his own measurements.

He has also joined a charitable organization to make wooden toys for children in need. His work with the Delaware Valley Woodworking Club has also provided extra wooden toys for his family. He has used the woodworking ideas that he has gotten through this work to refine and improve some of the toy projects by varying the wood types, finish, and design.

Peppel was also able to create a cutting board for his sister from a red oak tree that fell behind her house, thus giving her a unique gift that had a connection to her home. To do this, he had to first cut a section out of the tree trunk and let it sit and dry for a couple of months. Then, he milled the wood into rough boards and had to let that dry for a few more months to dry to avoid warping or splitting before he was able to craft it into the cutting board. This kind of preparation is something that all woodworkers can strive for.

Any woodworker can take Brian Peppel as an example of how to use your woodworking skills to create gifts by drawing your own plans from existing work, doing charitable work that can spill over to your own family, and being available to create special gifts for family that could never be bought in a store. In this way you can put your talents to work more for others than for yourself and reap the rewards many times over.