Show how much you love your girlfriend by turning a piece of scrap wood into beautiful jewelry!

I wanted to do a small wood carving project and decided to surprice my girl with a cherry heart!

Materials list consisted only of piece of scrap wood and a red leather band.

I decided to use my fancy sanding and carving tools, but this could also be done with only a coping saw, cordless drill, small files and some sandpapers.

I used:

scroll saw
drill press
belt sander
electric carving tool
variety of sandpapers
Linseed oil

Step 1:

I started off by sketching the shape. This is much harder than you think! Getting it symmetrical is a tough task.

Then I drilled a small hole on the drill press. It is much easier to do it before cutting the shape out.

I cut the heart out on the scroll saw. As I said, it could also quite easily be done with a coping saw ;)

I got it to rough heart shape on the belt sander.

Next I carved the final shape with carving tool and smoothed out with a small spindle sander. Be sure to lower the speed if possible to avoid accidents.

Step 2: Looooots of Sanding

Of course the next step was sanding.... and lots of it.

I started with 80 grit sandpaper and gradually moved up to 500 grit. This left a silky-smooth surface. Of course I also left some imperfections because then it is more lifelike.

To finish I soaked the heart in linseed oil with really brought out the colour.

And of course I added a red leather necklace string which I got from a local craft store.