![]() DIY Gifts for Men. Buying any of the items from our holiday gift guides will surely make some man’s Christmas. But in my experience, the gifts that mean the most are the ones people make for you. Anyone can open their wallet and plop down cash for a nice present. But knowing someone spent their time crafting something just for you is truly special. Plus, in a very consumeristic culture, many homemade gifts can be made on the cheap and help you cross numerous people off your list without going into debt. ![]() ![]() Over the years we’ve published several how- to guides on how to make various items that are not only fun to use yourself, but would also be great Christmas presents. Below, we’ve gathered the best ones into one big list. These DIY gifts are things that men will enjoy both making and receiving. Some of these homemade gifts are really easy and inexpensive to make, while others require a bit more skill, time, and investment in materials. We’ve made sure to indicate the difficulty level, time required, and cost on each one so you can gauge whether a project will fit in your wheelhouse, schedule, and budget. So each holiday season we’ll update and republish this list with links to more ideas! Difficulty: Easy Time: ~1 hour Cost: $1. From pocket watches to grandfather clocks, men have long held a fascination with keeping time in stylish and classic ways. What better way to do so than turning a handsome hardcover book into a working clock? This project is similar to what Brett did a couple years back with turning a hardcover book into a secret safe. Instead of stashing this on a bookshelf and hoping it. Coming in at around $1. DIY Christmas gift for your fella to decorate an apartment or man room. Difficulty: Easy Time: < 1 hour Cost: Most people have all the supplies handy, otherwise ~$1. If you enjoy craft beer, what better way to imbibe than out of a drinking glass made from your favorite brew bottle? Use 1. 2oz bottles to create a set of tasting glasses, use 2. And did I mention you get to play with fire? Difficulty: Easy Time: 3. Cost: $2. 0- $3. 0 for starter supplies, which will make over a dozen bottles. Just as the hair on one’s head needs to be taken care of, so does the hair on one’s face. While beard oil is making a comeback in many men’s shops and retail websites, it’s spendy. While that amount will last awhile, there’s a better way to make it on your own a little. While the startup costs are similar to buying a bottle or two, you’ll get at least a dozen bottles from your DIY supplies. A beard that feels nice and smells nice – a miracle! Difficulty: Advanced Time: 1- 2 days Cost: $3. The cigar box guitar has a long history of providing rich entertainment to those who were musically inclined but didn’t have the funds to buy nice instruments. Recreate this old musical tradition for Christmas for your loved one. Sure, it’s a complex task for those with no woodworking experience, but it provides a fulfilling endeavor for those willing to give it a shot. Difficulty: Easy Time: 5 minutes to prep, ~4. Cost: $1. 5 (for toothpicks and a couple bottles of essential oils)While chewing on toothpicks is enjoyable on its own, you can make it an even better experience by flavoring them. While flavored toothpicks have started to show up in retail environments, they. As a bonus, the cost estimate will yield at least a few batches, so you can make these for multiple fine gentlemen. Difficultly: Intermediate. Time: About an hour. Cost: $5 These handsome and rustic handmade bottle openers make great gifts for the craft beer or soda connoisseur in your life. Not only do they open bottles, they even catch your bottle cap as you remove it and stick to your fridge for easy access. You could easily make one out of scrap wood that you have lying around the garage or shop — this is a truly frugal crowd- pleaser. Difficulty: Easy. Time: 1. 5 minutes plus 2. Cost: Varies. Beef jerky is a great manly stocking stuffer. Homemade beef jerky is even better. Check out this recipe from Tim Ferriss on how to make the best beef jerky in the world. Experiment with different spices to create a unique flavor perfect for your recipient’s palate. Difficulty: Intermediate. Time: Varies. Cost: $1. Heirloom axes are all the rage these days, but buying a new one can set you back more than 2. So why not restore an old one to be like new instead? With a bit of elbow grease and time, you can give someone a handsome and fully functional heirloom quality axe for less than $2.
This is the perfect gift for a suburban man with an inner Paul Bunyan. Difficulty: Hard. Time: 4 hours to several days, depending on skill level. Cost: $5. 0- $1. 50. Perfect for the World War II buff in your life. ![]() ![]() Pick up an old WWII surplus field phone on e. Bay and turn it into a bluetooth handset that can be used to make and receive calls. Your recipient will feel like Eisenhower commanding the troops on D- Day whenever he’s calling Terminix to reschedule his extermination service. This project requires moderate soldering skills and some rudimentary knowledge of electronics, hence the “Hard” difficulty rating. Difficulty: Easy. Time: About an hour. Cost: $1. 0Every man needs a shoe shine box. If you know a gent without one, make him this nifty shine box based off a design from a 1. Popular Mechanics article. This shoe shine box is pretty simple. What makes it “nifty” is the two free- turning dowels placed inside the box. ![]() This is a cheap and easy project to try. I’ve had several readers send me pics of their finished shoe shine boxes and they all look great. If you decide to do this project, send me a pic via Instagram or Twitter. WorkoutBOX contains free workout routines for a wide range of different fitness goals. Whether you're looking to build muscle, lose fat, or just keep yourself in. I just got back from my tremendously wonderful trip to Vermont this week. I took part in the traditional face stuffing that always accompanies a vacation, and yet. To play the son of Zeus in the upcoming blockbuster ''Hercules,'' Dwayne ''The Rock'' Johnson took his training to an entirely new level. In this interview, the movie. It worked, but only played AM radio. I thought it was a shame that it didn’t get more use than it did, so I asked my electrical engineer brother- in- law to help me mod it so I could play tunes from my i. Phone on it. With his help, I now have an audio device with 1. This project requires some soldering and basic electrical engineering know- how. If you lack the necessary soldering skills and electrical knowledge, expect to spend a few days or weeks as you wire things correctly through trial and error. The biggest expense will be the vintage radio. ![]() ![]() You can find them at your local antique stores for about $3. My brother- in- law also created a pre- made amplifier just for this project that sells for $2. Difficulty: Easy. ![]() Time: About an hour. Cost: $5. A great gift for kids and big kids (i. This sling shot cost me less than $5 to make and took just an hour of my time. You’ll get serious “Cool Uncle” points if you make this for your nephew or niece. Difficult: Easy. Time: An hour. Cost: $1. 5Yeah, I made that crappy looking wooden sword, but my then 1. This would make a great gift for your young nephew or son. It’s not hard and costs less than $1. And with the materials you buy for that $1. You can get as elaborate as you want with your design. Unfortunately, I’m not that creative or crafty, so Gus had to settle for Dad’s dopey- looking sword made with love. Difficulty: Hard. Time: Two weeks. Cost: $1. Want to really impress your wife this Christmas? Make her a dining room table with your own two hands! A few years ago, Ao. M reader and fellow Okie, Tuck Oden showed us how to do just that. I have been surprised and delighted by the number of men who actually took action on that article and made this table. I still get emails from folks showing off the manly fruits of their labors. Tuck’s total cost for wood, hardware, and stain was less than $2. Difficulty: Intermediate. Time: It takes about two hours to make a batch, but you’ll then need to let them “rest” for four weeks so saponification can occur. Cost: 7. 5 cents a bar. Soaps created just for men are big right now. I seriously get a package in the mail every other week filled with manly smelling soaps from some new company hoping to cash in on this male grooming boom we’re currently experiencing. Instead of forking over $9 for a bar of artisan man- soap, make a big batch of your own for less than $. Ao. M contributor Bryan Schatz showed us how to create a manly bar of soap filled with coffee grounds and walnuts — it smells good and can easily clean off whatever gunk you get on your hands. If you’ve seen the movie Fight Club, you’ll know that soap making is a dangerous and volatile process. So take your time and use adequate protection while making your manly, coffee- scented soap. Difficulty: Intermediate. Time: 2- 3 hours. Cost: Varies. Wallets have been popular Christmas gifts for men for a century. Instead of buying an expensive one from the wallet rack at some department store that will wear out in a few years, make someone a wallet that will last their whole lives. The fine gents at Bison Made gave us step- by- step instructions on how to make a handsome and incredibly durable wallet. They even provide a printable blueprint that you can use to measure and cut your leather. Difficulty: Easy. Time: Varies. Cost: Varies. The draw of the transformed Altoids tin is hard to put your finger on. Part of it is the satisfying challenge of fitting as much as possible into a small space. Part of it is the delight of being able to carry something cool in your pocket. But any way you slice it, an Altoids tin that’s been converted into something new is a true crowd- pleaser; the post we did on 2. Manly Ways to Re- Use an Altoids Tin has become one of our most popular posts of all time. Any of the kits on that list would make an awesome gift or stocking stuffer. My favorite is the survival kit pictured above, but the games chest, s’mores kit, mini flashlight, first aid kit. And many only require assembly — no skill needed! Difficulty: Easy. Time: 2. 5 hours. Cost: $5- $1. 0Make somebody feel like a spy with a secret book safe. This is one of my favorite projects that we’ve done on Ao. M. I still use the book safe that I made a few years ago for the original post. Creating a secret book safe only costs a few bucks and takes a couple of hours. Select a book to use that reminds you of the recipient — this gift is bound to delight. Palisade Author's Page. Whiting .. author of . With A Huge Curiosity, part 2! Dinkens And His Spanking Machine?
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