What makes a piece worth making to sell
| Factor | Why it matters | How the two designs here meet it |
|---|---|---|
| Material per piece | It sets the floor under any price | Each uses a short length of common board or square stock |
| Build time per piece | Time is usually the larger cost | Set-ups (stops, a drilling guide) are made once and reused |
| Repeatability | Every piece must match what was shown | Parts cut to stops; holes drilled from one marked template |
| Rules that apply | Children's and food items carry federal rules | Neither is a children's product; the trivet is not for food |
Planning considerations, not a forecast of sales. Not a ranking.
Working out cost per piece, without guessing prices
- Material. Work out the stock one piece uses and multiply by what your supplier charges. Hardwood is sold by the board foot — 144 cubic inches — so a 3/4 × 3-1/2 × 12 in rack board is 31.5 cubic inches, about 0.22 board foot before waste; the board foot calculator does the arithmetic. Softwood boards are sold by nominal size, so price them by the board.
- Yield. Count pieces per board, including kerfs: a 96 in 1 × 4 gives seven 12 in rack boards (7 × 12-1/8 = 84-7/8 in), with room left over; eight would need 97 in.
- Consumables and hardware. Glue, abrasive, finish and wall fixings, shared across the batch.
- Time. Time a first batch of ten, set-ups included, and divide; it falls as the set-ups are reused.
- Then a price. Material, consumables and your time per piece set the minimum; what local buyers will pay is for your market to tell you. BenchRoot gives no prices.
Design 1: a pegged key rack
| Part | Qty | Size (in) | Material |
|---|---|---|---|
| Back board | 1 | 3/4 × 3-1/2 × 12 | 1 × 4 board, hardwood or pine |
| Peg | 4 | 3/8 dia × 2-1/2 | Dowel rod; a 36 in rod gives 13 pegs at 2-5/8 in each with kerf |
Pegs sit in 3/8 in holes 1/2 in deep and stand 2 in proud. Holes at 2-1/4, 4-3/4, 7-1/4 and 9-3/4 in from one end, centred on the width.
Making key racks in a batch
Cut the boards
Cut all the 12 in boards from long stock against one stop, so they match.
Make a drilling template
Mark the four hole centres on one scrap board and drill it as a template; clamp it on each rack board in turn so every rack is drilled alike.
Drill the holes
Drill 3/8 in holes 1/2 in deep, with a depth stop or a drill press; see the drill guide and the drill press guide.
Cut and fit the pegs
Cut the pegs to 2-1/2 in against a stop, ease the outer ends, glue them in and wipe away squeeze-out.
Finish and hang
Sand, finish, and add hanging hardware chosen for the buyer's wall; no load rating is claimed.
Design 2: a slatted trivet
| Part | Qty | Size (in) | Material |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slat | 5 | 3/4 × 3/4 × 7 | Hardwood square stock |
| Batten | 2 | 3/4 × 3/4 × 5-3/4 | Hardwood square stock |
Each trivet uses 46-1/2 in of square stock, plus six kerfs; a 96 in strip makes two. Slats sit 1/2 in apart: 5 × 3/4 + 4 × 1/2 = 5-3/4 in.
Making trivets in a batch
Cut the parts
Cut the slats and battens from long square stock against stops.
Space the slats
Lay five slats on a flat surface with 1/2 in spacers between them, ends aligned.
Fix the battens
Glue the two battens across the slats, 1 in in from each end, and add one short screw per slat through each batten, shorter than the two layers together.
Finish
Ease all edges and finish. It is for setting dishes on a table; no heat rating is claimed.
Rules once you sell
- Children's products. Anything made for children 12 and under is a children's product to the CPSC: the maker must certify it with a Children's Product Certificate based on tests by a CPSC-accepted third-party laboratory, and paint on it must contain less than 0.009% lead by weight. That is why toys and children's furniture are not suggested here; see toy plans.
- Food contact. For a serving board or utensil, the Forest Products Laboratory advises a finish that is safe for food — mineral oil, never baby oil, or one labelled food-safe; see the finishing oil guide.
- Everything else. Business registration, sales tax and marketplace rules depend on where you sell and are not covered here.
Safety— Batch work, same care
Repetition invites shortcuts. Keep stops and clamps doing the holding, especially for short parts like pegs, and follow each tool's manual and woodworking safety rules.
Before a first batch
- Stock for the whole batch, with yield worked out including kerfs
- Stops and a drilling template made and checked
- Cost per piece worked out from your own prices
- Not a children's or food item, or the rules for it understood
- One finished sample checked before the rest
More pieces made from offcuts are in scrap wood projects; every small project is mapped in wood craft ideas.
Sources
Both designs are BenchRoot's; every dimension is on the drawing and in the cut lists, and the yields are worked from those lengths with a 1/8 in kerf. No prices, profits or sales figures are given: costs depend on your own suppliers and time. Rules for children's products and food-contact items are the federal agencies'; business registration, tax and marketplace rules vary by place and are not covered. The designs were not built for this page; no load or heat rating is claimed.
- 1.
NIST Handbook 130 (2026), IV.B Uniform Regulation for the Method of Sale of Commodities. National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2026.
Used for: The board foot as 144 cubic inches, the unit hardwood is sold by, and softwood sold by nominal size with a 1 × 4 dressed to 3/4 × 3-1/2 in.
- 2.
Children's Products. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Used for: A children's product defined in law as a consumer product designed or intended primarily for children 12 years of age or younger.
- 3.
CPSC Business Desktop Reference Guide. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 2023.
Used for: Manufacturers and importers of children's products certifying compliance with a Children's Product Certificate based on passing tests from a CPSC-accepted third-party laboratory, after first deciding the product's intended age.
- 4.
Lead in Paint (16 CFR part 1303). U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Used for: Paints and surface coatings on children's products banned at 0.009% lead by weight or more.
- 5.
Mark Knaebe. Finishes for Wood Bowls, Butcher Blocks, Other Items Used for Food, and Children's Toys (FinishLine). USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, 2013.
Used for: Finishes for items that touch food: mineral oil, never baby oil, and a finish whose label or maker says it is safe for food.
About this guide
Written by BenchRoot Editorial. How BenchRoot sources, checks and corrects its pages is set out in the Editorial Policy. If something here is wrong or unclear, the contact page explains how to tell us.