Christmas is just around the corner, and that means the season of gift-giving is upon us. Many woodturners employ their woodturning skills to create unique presents and woodturn small gifts for friends and family members that will be treasured for many years to come.
However, wood-turned items often take a good deal of time and effort to create, and we’re getting to the point where long projects are no longer an option unless you plan to spend the next ten days locked in your woodshop. (If this is a pleasant prospect to you, by all means! Use the excuse of making elaborate Christmas gifts as a reason to throw yourself whole-heartedly into woodturning.)
But for the woodturner who may not have the time or inclination to work on projects day and night, or who may need to make several projects for multiple people, don’t worry; there is still time to create meaningful handmade items for the loved ones in your life.
This guide will give you some ideas for five fast projects, each one doable in an afternoon, plus some tips on variations and finishing options.
For a gift to be a fast-turn gift, moving from blank to finished product in a matter of hours, it must be small in diameter and use simple forms. Those who have been woodturning for a while will know that smaller items can be made more quickly. Large or complex items that require a lot of hollowing or shaping, like deep vases or artistic items, are not ideal for completion in an afternoon.
Fast-turn items should also require minimal sanding and finishing, so the savvy woodturner will want to rely on finishes like CA glue, shellac friction polish, or wipe-on poly to minimize drying time.
Lastly, consider if you will be able to make items in batches. This is ideal if you want to give comparable items to several people; maybe you have several grandchildren who will receive similar toys or a handful of coworkers who will each appreciate a pen or bottle stopper. Making items in batches allows you to streamline your process, as you don’t have to re-set the lathe or the finishing station for each item.
The first fast-turn project you might consider making is a spinning top. These simple toys have been enjoyed by children for decades, even centuries! If you have little ones in your life and you aren’t keen on adding a lot of flashing, noisy, plastic toys to their lives, a spinning top is an excellent choice for a gift, and they make great stocking stuffers.
Spinning tops fit the criteria for a fast-turn project because they require simple spindle turning and minimal sanding or finishing.
Start with a small wood blank; a rectangular blank that is 5-6 inches long and 2-3 inches in width and breadth can be easily roughed into a cylinder from which you can make several small tops or one to two larger tops.
Once you have your cylinder roughed out, use a spindle or bowl gouge at about a 45-degree angle to create the core of the top. Then, use a parting tool to create the shaft or handle of the top (the part you hold when you spin it.)
After you’ve made your top, you can sand and finish it right on the lathe. Simple finishes like beeswax or mineral oil will give your toy a nice sheen without much fuss. If you are making more than one top, cut the shaft from the rest of the blank with a skew or parting tool.
One of the best things about making spinning tops is that the possibilities for variations are endless. You can make your top pointed or rounded, but keep in mind that the pointed ones will spin longer. You can keep them extremely simple and smooth or add embellishments like grooves or beads for texture.
You can also add burn lines or paint for a more colorful or unique visual appeal. If you’re making several tops, play around with different techniques or finishes to find what works best for you and preserves your unique woodturning style.
Another fast-turn project that is sure to be a hit, especially for the wine-lovers in your life, is a bottle stopper. Bottle stoppers can be both beautiful and useful, and you can pair your lovely handmade gift with a bottle of wine. Of course, if your loved one prefers sparkling juice or cider, the bottle stopper will work just as well.
This is another good project to make quickly because it is easy to shape and finish; the hardware does most of the work for you. This project does require some special tools, but once you have them on hand, the process is simple and streamlined. In addition to your normal gouges, parting tools, and chisels, invest in a bottle stopper mandrel and a set of calipers. (Many of you advanced woodturners might have a set of calipers anyway.)
The mandrel will make the process of turning the sealing end of the bottle stopper a breeze, and the calipers can help you make sure you are turning it to the exact diameter of the bottle. You will also want to buy ahead of time the stopper hardware that you will use.
To make your stopper, make sure you have a wood blank that is at least a few inches long and a couple of inches in diameter. Mount your blank on the lathe and rough it into a cylinder.
Once you have a cylinder, switch out your chuck for the mandrel to shape the end that will be mounted to the hardware. To turn the stopper end, use your caliper to make sure you shape the end to the exact size you need.
Then, shape the decorative end of the bottle stopper. This is where you can get creative, making modern shapes, spherical bulbs, or advanced forms like animal heads, depending on your loved one’s interests. Whatever shape you decide on, make sure it is not so smooth or tapered that your recipient’s fingers slip as they pull out the stopper. Sand and finish the decorative end and then mount it to the sealing hardware. Your bottle stopper is done!
A honey dipper is another project that requires a relatively small amount of time but yields large returns. These utensils can make great gifts for hosts, foodies, kitchen fans, and anyone who buys or keeps their honey in a jar rather than the squeezable bears.
Honey dippers are far more efficient and useful than a knife for picking up honey and drizzling it onto your toast or yogurt. And, if you want to make your gift extra special (and extra practical), grab some local honey to pair with your dipper.
One of the reasons a honey dipper is a great fast-turn gift is because it requires so few tools, all of which are very basic, so you are sure to have them in your woodshop. A honey dipper requires straight spindle turning and a roughing gouge, skew chisel, and a parting tool.
Start with a wood blank that is at least 1” in diameter. Your dipper can be of any length, though most people prefer a honey dipper with a handle of at least 4-5”, which means the entire tool will probably be at least 7-8” long (though it could be longer.) This is a great time to use any leftover scraps you have lying around or ones you’ve been saving because “they’ll come in handy sometime!”
Mount your wood blank on your lathe and mark with a pencil the approximate places where the handle will be tapered and where the head of the tool will begin. You might also consider marking a small section at the end of the blank to make it easier to part off the lathe when you are finished.
Then, shape the head of the tool and cut the grooves into the dipper. Make sure the grooves are all the same depth; it is best to look down at your work from above as you use the parting tool to cut the grooves. Shape the handle of the tool to whatever thickness you like and make an aesthetically pleasing end for the handle.
The last step is to sand and finish your honey dipper. You can sand and finish it right on the lathe, using progressively higher grit sandpaper. Make sure that you use food-safe finish; mineral oil or beeswax are good choices, though there are food-safe polys as well.
As with other fast-turn projects, one of the best things about a honey dipper is that it is extremely versatile. You can tailor it to your own tastes or to the interests of the gift recipient, adding embellishments or not according to preference. In this case, we would not advise adding color or paint, unless you are very sure that it is food safe.
Wood-turned pens are another good option when you need to create a gift in a rush. Everyone appreciates a good pen, and these are extremely easy to tailor to the preferences or interests of your loved one.
They are also a good fast-turn option because you can use pre-made pen kits and mandrels to make the turning process simple and efficient.
Select a pen blank; these do not have to be large. Cut the blank in half and mark the center of each side. With a pen blank drilling clamp or block clamp, drill a hole exactly in the center of each blank.
Now, take your metal tubes and rub them with sandpaper before you apply CA glue. Slide each tube into the hole in the blank, making sure it does not stick out the end. Square the ends of each blank to ensure the pen will not have any unsightly gaps when it is finished.
Then, add the pen mandrel to your lathe and slide the bushings onto the mandrel in between your pen blanks. These bushings act as a guide for how thin you want your pen to be.
Once you have your pen blanks mounted, it’s time to get creative! Turn your pen using a spindle gouge, tapering the grip or not as you like. When the blanks are just slightly larger than the bushings, it is time to sand the blanks and add a finish. Adding multiple coats of a finish results in a higher gloss for the completed project.
Once your pen barrels are turned, all that’s left is to assemble the pen using the pieces from the pen kit. A pen vice is also handy to have here, although you can also use a bench vice. Press the writing tip into one end of one barrel and the twist mechanism into the opposite end of that same barrel. Add the pen refill and press the cap end into the other barrel. Add the center band and you’re done!
Of course, a list of fast-turn Christmas gifts would not be complete without the possibility of making Christmas ornaments. Christmas ornaments make the perfect holiday gift, and they are often put to use immediately. There are so many variations that it would be impossible to say exactly what kind of Christmas ornament you could or should make, but here are a few ideas to get you started:
One thing that all of these projects have in common is that they are spindle-turned and don’t require any hollowing; just shape and finish. You might plan out some ideas first and try a few different kinds of ornaments to see what works best on your lathe with the wood blanks you have. This is another time that scrap wood comes in handy.
Another fun thing about making Christmas ornaments is that it gives you a chance to exercise your creative skills away from the lathe. You might choose to leave your wooden ornaments natural or finished with simple polishes, but you could also choose to paint and decorate each ornament in unique ways, adding faces to snowmen or bright colors to finial ornaments.
You might also consider drilling a hole in the top of each ornament to add a string or hook so that your decoration is ready for the tree as soon as your recipient opens the box.
The list above is not an exhaustive list, obviously! These five projects should get you started, but there are many more quick projects you could make in the next several days if the ones above don’t quite fit your particular gifting needs. You might consider making:
The key is to keep things simple and small. And if you have several afternoons at your disposal, you might try making more than a few fast-turn projects!
Whatever you decide to make when you woodturn small gifts, know that your handmade gifts will be cherished by your recipients, even if you haven’t spent months planning and executing these designs. Enjoy the process of creating long-lasting gifts that show your loved ones how much you care this Christmas season.
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