6 Beginner Carpentry Projects to Get You Started

Here are some beginner woodworking projects for building up your skill level

What type of DIY wood projects should you do if you want to improve your woodworking skills?

Regardless of whether you're building projects with your portable sawmill like an HM126, or you're just using scrap wood and hand-me-down power tools, there are plenty of simple woodworking projects great for beginners.

So let's dive into some perfect beginner woodworking projects to get you started. 

What tools do I need to do DIY woodworking projects at home?

You don't need much to get started as a new carpenter. Some recommendations for beginner tools include:

• • Power Saw: Something like a circular saw is helpful for cutting boards to proper length. If a table saw is too expensive you can hand saw too, if you have the patience

  • Drill: You'll need to be able to fasten your wood together, so a drill and a starter set of drill bits and screws can get you started

  • Planer: An expensive table planer isn't necessary, and a small hand one is an affordable investment

  • Tape Measure & Speed Square: Accurate measurements make the difference between a project that fits together well and one that doesn’t. A tape measure and simple square will help you mark straight cuts and keep everything aligned

  • Clamps: Clamps act like an extra set of hands. They hold boards steady while you drill, glue, or assemble pieces, which makes projects much easier to manage

  • Sandpaper or a Small Sander: Sanding smooths rough edges and gives your project a finished look. Even basic sandpaper can go a long way when you're starting out

These are the most basics tools you need to get started woodworking. If you know someone or have family that has a garage or workshop full of tools, ask and see if you can use it to get started.

How do I get lumber for my woodworking projects?

Buying lumber from the hardware store is one method, but this can very quickly get expensive and many carpenters find it frustrating when they pick up an order and the lumber is knotty and bent.

Because of this, many woodworkers have invested in a portable sawmill, such as an HM126 or HM130MAX, which is great for cutting custom dimensions and doing posts for outbuildings or slabs for woodworking projects.

There are also inexpensive models, such as the SE118 or SE122 that are designed with a lighter feature-set but are great beginner sawmills.

Pull out trees downed in storms or that have fallen in the forest, or take down your own trees from your land, and make lumber to your specifications. Knowing the story of your wood is something a lot of sawyers appreciate and it makes the final product that much more special.

You can also reuse pallet wood if you have easy access to them, or save money by using wood scraps from other woodworkers too.

So what are some easy DIY wood projects for beginners?

Let's get into some simple first woodworking projects that you can do as a beginner woodworker:

Aged Wood Boxes

Courtesy Wesley S. from the Woodland Mills Product Owners and Community Facebook Group.

What could be simpler than a box? It has six sides and a lid, and can be just about any size.

Make a large, wide box and pass it onto your children or grandchildren as a toybox. Make something small and give it to your spouse for holding jewelry or mementos. Wesley made this box using wood that had been drying for two decades, and his joinery around the corners is amazing, but as a beginner you don't have to aim for this level of artistry. You can start as basic as you want and do more complicated builds as you improve.

Make it with off-cuts and wood glue or something more heavy duty with custom-milled lumber and wood screws, this can be as simple or complicated as you want.

Wooden Country Maps

Courtesy Kevin D. from the Woodland Mills Product Owners and Community Facebook Group.

Want a souvenir to show where you've travelled? Or a project that shows your skills with a vertical bandsaw?

A wooden map showing the states, provinces or territories of your country is a great test for new woodworkers, since you need to accurately carve our the borders of each piece so they fit together perfectly. Kevin's project is doubly amazing because he's making it with wood species found in each U.S. state.

It's a work in progress but we can't wait to see how Kevin finishes it, and see how others use it for inspiration.

Leopold Benchs

Courtesy Kurt E. from the Woodland Mills Product Owners and Community Facebook Group.

Want to make a wood bench out of the fewest number of pieces of wood?

Great for novice woodworkers, Leopold benches only use five or six boards and are a great piece of outdoor furniture. Kurt's Leopold bench made use of downed oak trees on his property, milled using his HM130MAX. There are plenty of free plans online and this is a great easy wood project that can be a cornerstone of your garden or lawn.

Cookie Production

Courtesy Justin G. from the Woodland Mills Product Owners and Community Facebook Group.

Want something incredibly easy to make that you can do just about anything with?

Cookies, or rounds, are a fun way of milling lumber that leaves you with a blank canvas of opportunity. If you have a woodburning kit, you can burn logos into them and hand them away at trade shows. Sell them as set dressing for weddings. Some sawyers in the Woodland Mills Facebook group mill them and sell them to schools for arts and crafts projects.

You could even find burled trees or ones with rot in them and fill the holes with resin to make artistic charcuterie boards for gifts.

There's a world of opportunity with cookies. Justin says he sells his for $5 a piece and makes a killing from them, so what will you do with yours?

Custom Charcuterie Boards

Courtesy Karlos A. from the Woodland Mills Product Owners and Community Facebook Group.

Want to practice your wood finishing skills? An easy woodworking project is to mill a board and then finish it to a beautiful final product.

You can attach hardware as the handles like Karlos has with his, or you can carve out a handle yourself. This is great for using narrower boards, and many beginner woodworkers do cutting boards as their first projects. Karlos has made a lot of cutting boards and coasters using his HM126 and even uses custom jigs to make angled cuts.

Ensure when you're milling that you're making straight cuts and sand and finish the boards nicely and you can make quite a profit selling these at local crafts fairs or farmers markets.

Lounge Chairs

Courtesy Doc Warren. from the Woodland Mills Product Owners and Community Facebook Group.

Now let's level up your game, time to make something a bit more complicated.

Doc Warren shared in the Woodland Mills Facebook Group how he was frustrated by the prices of lounge chairs at the big box stores, so he decided to make his own using his HM130MAX portable sawmill.

It's definitely a step up from other beginner woodworking projects, but if you can build a structure strong enough to hold the weight of a person and make it comfortable, then you're on the road to being a custom furniture master.

What's next in your carpentry journey?

So what project should you tackle next? There's lots of possibilities, limited only by your imagination. With the right tools you can make anything you want.

• • Shelves or cupboards so you have more storage at home

  • Work benches for your garage or workshop

  • Step stools to get to high shelves in your kitchen

Anything is possible and we can't wait to see what you make next.