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free plans: how to make Date Blocks |
| Basic Description | Here is a free plan for an remarkably simple yet classic date display. The two cubes make a perfect desk item to help you remember what day of the month it is. It turns out that you can display all of the days of a month (one to thirty-one) with only two blocks even though each of the blocks only has six faces. Read on to see how this works and for additional ideas such as a month display. In this plan, we show you how to carve the numbers into wood, but as described in the design considerations section at the end, you could also paint or apply the numbers onto the blocks. |
MaterialsYou can use any material but we chose wood because it is easy to work with, looks great, and we had lots of scrap laying around. Harder woods are going to be harder to carve, the mahogany that we used worked very well. Other woods that are suitable for carving include basswood, butternut, and walnut. SizeThe size of the blocks is not critical but they should be the same size. If your cubes are too small, it will be difficult to carve the numbers accurately. Larger blocks will be easier to work with. |
We carved the numbers into the blocks for appearance, but you could also paint the blocks and paint numbers or apply decals. This would make the project remarkably simple. Other ways to create the numbers include using a rotary hand power tool, or by burning the numbers into the cubes with a woodburner.
Other ideasWe like to display the blocks alone on a desk or shelf. You could create an open box to hold them and hide the numbers on the other faces to avoid confusion. You can also create blocks with the names of the months on them. Make three pieces of wood that are twice as long as the edges of the cube; make the thickness and width 1/3 the size of the cube. These three pieces will have 12 faces for you to write the names of the month. |
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