Most Profitable Woodworking Projects To Build &Amp; Sell

20 Woodworking Projects That Sell

Ever wondered how your woodworking hobby can turn into a profitable venture? Discover projects that not only fulfill your creative passion but also promise lucrative returns.

17/01/2024 – Update

In a Nutshell:

Certain projects consistently attract buyers. Plant boxes and birdhouses offer charm and functionality for garden enthusiasts. Wine racks and wooden utensils combine utility with aesthetic appeal, making them desirable kitchen additions. For home decor, picture frames, rustic wall signs, and end tables serve both practical and decorative purposes. Pet houses cater to animal lovers, while bathtub caddies and coat racks add a touch of luxury to everyday living. Creative items like wooden toys and beer caddies strike a chord with niche markets. Functional yet stylish, storage beds, wooden furniture, wall shelves, and headboards are always in demand.

What Can You Make Out of Wood That Will Sell?

To help you on your entrepreneurial journey, we want to go over some of the most profitable woodworking projects to both build and sell, utilizing relatively inexpensive materials.

Here’s the short and sweet version of everything rustic and wooden you can craft in your spare time to make money:

  • Plant boxes
  • Birdhouses
  • Wine racks
  • Wooden utensils
  • Picture frames
  • Fruit bowls
  • End tables
  • Pet houses
  • Bathtub caddy
  • Rustic wall sign
  • Knife blocks
  • Coffee cup racks
  • Wooden toys
  • Beer caddy
  • Patio swings
  • Coat racks
  • Storage beds
  • Wooden furniture
  • Wall shelves
  • Headboards

These project ideas we will be covering will also produce the best ROI in terms of considering your most important investment, time. 

So on that note, we’ll now break down some of the best woodwork ideas for building basic wood projects out of materials as plain as pallet wood to sell successfully.

20 Woodworking Projects to Build And Sell for Profit

1 | Plant Boxes

Sure, lots of people will resort to buying a plastic plant box or even a plant box made of clay, but they never look right. Besides, clay can be brittle, and plastic just looks cheap. People who love their gardens, especially their flowers, like to feature them inside of a plant box that is tastefully crafted for aesthetic purposes. 

To help make the flowers pop, a handmade plant box needs to exhibit the same level of beauty as the flowers themselves. Plant boxes are relatively easy to make, and just like with fruit bowls, you can use any kind of wood to make them, as long as they are finished the right way.

Although they are a simple project, if you spend a little extra time to make an elegant-looking plant box, you’ll be leaps and bounds ahead of your competition.

Then, once you’ve mastered the art of crafting a perfect plant box design that captures the eye of potential buyers, you can sell them at quite the markup because, after all, the DIY gardening business is extremely lucrative.

Diy Plant Boxes

2 | Bird Houses

Yeah, birdhouses are still very popular, but the problem with them is that for what they are, they usually cost a substantial amount of money. Even from local stores, they tend to be far too expensive.

After all, they are just a few pieces of wood nailed together, with an opening at the front.

Well, to make your own birdhouse, you can use some very affordable and uncomplicated materials, even leftover scraps from other projects, and then sell it for a nice little profit. If you manage to use scrap wood for any woodworking project, you are looking at more or less 100% profit. 

Itโ€™s called being economical.

3 | Wine Racks

As you can tell, itโ€™s the small stuff that brings in the big bucks. Sure, enormously huge cabinets, beds, and dressers will obviously fetch the big bucks, but they are hard to make, require a lot of material, and take a considerable amount of time to complete.

Something like a small wine rack, even a reasonably large one, is an elementary item to make out of wood, plus you donโ€™t need one solid piece of wood to do so. You can buy some wood on the cheap and bang out a wine rack in a single day to display your most exquisite wine bottle.

If you can build a wine rack that showcases the same kind of substance as a bottle of Terrantez Madeira, you’ll be able to make even the cheapest wine bottle alluring to the richest of wine enthusiasts, and they will come from far and wide for your hand-crafted wine racks.

Bulid And Sell Wine Racks

4 | Wooden Utensils

Something else that can fetch quite the profit at flea markets, woodworking markets, or anything in between is wooden utensil items. Just like fruit bowls, itโ€™s another one of those staples in the kitchen that can both look nice and be super practical too.

Now, you might not want to go for small utensils right away, as you do have to be very precise when making them, although if you have the necessary tools and skills, you could start right away and craft a lovely set of wooden utensils.

One of the easiest and fastest kitchen utensils to make out of wood are large spoons and ladles, as well as salad tongs too. It provides people with a noteworthy talking point at their next dinner party, and theyโ€™re always in demand.

Making Your Own Wooden Utensils

5 | Picture Frames

Whether you use oak, mahogany, pine, or anything in between, every great work of art or picture needs to be accompanied by the right frame. A beautiful-looking picture frame will always be in super high demand no matter where you go, with the problem being that they are usually incredibly overpriced.

Wooden picture frames are foolproof to make, super easy and donโ€™t take very long, either. You can pump out a heck of a lot of great-looking wooden picture frames in a limited amount of time.

If you want to flip them quickly, sell them for a few bucks cheaper than your competitors. People will literally flock to you for your handcrafted designs if they are well-made and reasonably priced.

6 | Fruit Bowls

Even if people donโ€™t eat a lot of fruit, every kitchen table or countertop can really come together with a beautiful wooden fruit bowl.

The great part about wooden fruit bowls is that not only do they look really sleek and sophisticated, but they also serve a practical purpose.

Itโ€™s a really profitable woodworking project because a fruit bowl can be made out of virtually any piece of wood, even junk wood, really, just as long as itโ€™s made right and finished with a beautiful coat.

Making A Diy Fruit Bowl Out Of Wood

7 | End Tables

Another item you could consider building out of wood and selling for a profit is a simple end table. End tables just have to look nice. They donโ€™t have to be big or come complete with a ton of shelves and cupboards, plus you can make them using scrap wood.

Of course, you do want to give it a nice finish, but nonetheless, a small end table can be made in about half a day.

Plus, you donโ€™t have to use expensive lumber, either. 4 legs, a top, and maybe a shelf below, slap on some varnish, and youโ€™ve made a nice little end table that you can sell for a cool $100.

End Tables

8 | Pet Houses

Pet owners are a passionate group of people who will happily roll out the red carpet for their furry little friends and shower them with the most exquisite gift that money could buy.

Lots of dedicated pet owners out there only want to buy the best items for their pets, often spending more money on their pets than on themselves.

Well, this makes the pet owner market a great one to target, as they are willing to shell out the big bucks for something that their pets will love. Now, pet houses can be found at every local pet store and hardware store too, but they either cost a massive fortune or are made out of cheap and interactive materials.

With some super simple and readily available materials, you can easily design and build a well-crafted doghouse that will surely attract the attention of these frenzied pet owners who will splash outlandish amounts of cash on the right design.

9 | Bathtub Caddy

Unless you’re a bath man, this is the kind of DIY woodworking project that is either gift-worthy for your wife or listed on Etsy for cash.

Then again, men aren’t the only woodworkers interested in making bank with lumps of lumber. A major benefit of attempting such a woodworking project is that you don’t need to be the next Steve Ramsey to succeed.

Grabbing a few offcuts and breaking out the wood router will be a step in the right direction. Plus, if you get this little project right, you can scale it and find yourself a decent size target market, as women do love baths.

Beer Caddy

10 | Rustic Wall Sign

If any of the above is too hard to make, you might consider crafting a simple DIY rustic wooden sign for your home man cave, garage, or lounge room.

That said, the kind of sign you make doesn’t have to be of a manly theme for your isolation space. Something homely for your patio or deck that appeals to your other half could win you some brownie points.

Plus, if you are all about the money, making a rustic wooden sign like the pictured sign below will have fantastic resale value as it will appeal to a wider audience. Making use of a wood carving tool and a bit of paint will pretty things up and test your creative side.

Rustic Wall Sign

11 | Knife Blocks

If youโ€™re looking for a popular item that is super fast and easy to make that will fetch a high-profit margin at your local market, a knife block is another great way to go.

Sure, it helps to use quality wood to make it, but as long as you use some excellent varnish and build it right, you can use any old block of wood to make a knife block, not to mention that it barely takes any time to prepare.

Get a block of wood, shape it nicely, cut out the slots for the knives, and slap some varnish on it. Boom, youโ€™ve made a knife block that you can sell for a cool fifty bucks.

12 | Coffee Cup Racks

The world loves its coffee (and tea and cocoa), so many homes are riddled with coffee mugs that could be used to showcase a touch of personality if only they had a coffee cup rack.

These can not only be profitable but excellent gifts for friends and family. These kitchen accessories don’t take many materials, and the material utilized to build them isn’t very inexpensive.

That makes these fun and unique projects that could end up being that brilliant little money-maker you’ve been seeking.

Build A Wooden Coffee Cup Rack

13 | Wooden Toys

Alright, so kids themselves may not always love wooden toys, especially in this age of technology, but that said, parents love wooden toys. If you go to childrenโ€™s birthdays, especially really young ones, or baby showers too, youโ€™ll often see other folks gifting the parents and their kid’s wooden toys.

We suppose it makes people feel good to give other kids something simple, something honest, and something good-looking, all without the beeping and buzzing that comes with todayโ€™s electronics.

Parents certainly seem to adore wooden toys, maybe because it reminds them of a simpler time. The point here is that you can use some relatively inexpensive wood to make a vast array of kidโ€™s toys that you can sell for quite a handsome profit.

Building And Selling Wooden Toys Online

14 | Beer Caddy

Nothing says I am a beer connoisseur more than serving your guest a nice cold beer in your handmade beer caddy. This could be a project that you can take on that will make you a pretty penny. With the surge of home breweries and craft beers, there is a need for some unique and well-crafted beer caddies.

One of the best materials to use for these is wood. You will need a little more precision than other projects, but there are plenty of tutorials out there for you to take advantage of. Once you have the caddy crafted, you may even want to add a stain. We suggest a nice dark one go with your beers.

These items are a fantastic yet rare gift that would be in high demand around the holiday season and would be sure to fetch a pretty penny.

15 | Patio Swings

Sitting on your porch, swinging to the sweet music of nature with a cold glass of iced tea, sounds like a great way to spend those warm summer days. Or snuggle up with a blanket and some hot cocoa in the colder months.

That is why a great project to undertake is to begin building porch swings for the community.

These swings only take a few pieces of wood and a couple of chains. They take very little time, which means you can produce these faster than some of the other projects.

Build Diy And Sell Patio Swings

16 | Coat Racks

This can be an excellent addition to any home – a wooden coat rack. This gives the family someplace to lay their coats other than over the back of the couch or in the corner of their room and adds some style too.

They are relatively easy to construct but may require thicker wood, nails, and hangers made of wrought iron to make them stand out. By using these materials, you will be able to earn good money.

If you want to charge more, add some flourishes and some ironwork that will make each rack unique.

Diy Handbag And Coat Rack

17 | Storage Beds

There is just never enough space to house all your cool stuff. So why not capitalize on this need and start crafting some amazing wooden storage beds?

These wooden chests can be personalized and made in conjunction with other options on or list like headboards and furniture. This will give your customers a set that is cohesive and enhances their room’s vibe.

The project may take a little longer than some of our other suggestions, depending on how large and intricate a wooden chest you are designing and building.

You could either build and sell these projects to individuals or produce a couple and sell your wares to the local furniture store.

18 | Wooden Furniture

Who doesn’t want to add a piece of bespoke wooden furniture to their interior design? The addition of a chair, kitchen table, or even a solid rustic-looking dining table could be that piece that rounds their home.

There is a lot of demand for pieces like these, and taking in these projects could be a very profitable project.

Depending on the size of the project, though, you may find yourself taking more time to fine-tune the finished project, which could slow down your process.

Building And Selling Wooden Furniture Online

19 | Wall Shelves

Maybe one of the most profitable projects to undertake, wooden wall shelves, may not be as artistic as some of the other project ideas, but they are a needed commodity whether your client lives in a modern home or an older one.

You really only need some wood planks and some glue, so the start-up cost of this project is super low.

Of course, when it’s all done, you may also want to add some staining, and if you feel really adventurous, try some intricate carving. If not, you can simply specialize in some basic shelving and make a killing.

Build Diy And Sell Wall Shelves

20 | Bed Headboards

Choose some beautiful wood and excellent stain, and you’re ready to begin using your woodworking skills to create amazing artistic headboards.

By cutting up some boards of wood using a compound miter saw and sanding them back, you’ll be set to start arranging and assembling an impressive-looking headboard according to your design specs. 

This project may cost more than a coat rack or a cup rack, but it is still a very profitable and fulfilling project to take on. Once you have done a few, you will see that many people would want to hire you to construct a sturdy and sublime-looking headboard for a wood bed frame

In Conclusion

Sure, there are plenty of unique things to make out of wood, but when it comes to the most profitable woodworking projects to build and sell, small and simple items, as we have discussed above, are usually the go-to way to put money in your pocket.

Key Takeaways:

  • Diverse Project Selection: The list includes 20 woodworking projects, ranging from practical items like plant boxes and wine racks to decorative pieces such as picture frames and rustic wall signs, catering to a wide array of consumer preferences and needs.
  • Market Viability: Each project is selected for its market appeal and profitability potential, emphasizing items that blend functionality with aesthetic value, appealing to both niche markets and broader consumer bases.
  • Accessibility and Profitability: The projects are designed to be accessible for woodworkers of varying skill levels, using affordable materials, and are chosen for their potential to yield a good profit margin, making them ideal for those looking to turn their woodworking hobby into a lucrative venture.

You can use Etsy to sell anything from rustic furniture, handmade home decor products, and wooden jewelry, or even draft your own woodworking tutorial on how to make one of the products we mentioned.