Like a lot of woodworkers, there comes a point where the overflow of scrap wood becomes a problem. You hate to throw it away. Had to pay for it after all. It’s still good. For something…
After one of my projects I was left with several clean and fresh 2×4 pieces. I challenged myself to make something and in my scrolling through Pinterest during the holiday months I was seeing these little wooden churches. They were rustic and not made to be ultra smooth. I took one of my scrap pieces and put it through my bandsaw. I ended up with several rough cut planks from my mini mill set up. Perfect!
(Yup, that little church was built from a 2×4 identical to this one.)
For the shape and style of church I didn’t have to look far to find one for reference. My family owns a piece of land that has a 100+ year old church sitting on it. I had several photos already.
I sketched up some plans on my graph paper to get the overall shape. Then it was just down to cutting up my newly “milled” stock to make the walls and steeple.
The overall plan was to put lights inside. I felt that the 2×4 material might be a little too translucent and let the light show through the wood. I gave it a coat of paint inside and out in black as a base. Then followed up with a couple coats on the outside.
I started out with a single light that would have been used in a Christmas village. It was a standard size LED bulb but the light was not making it up into the steeple.I had a string of mini LED lights that was intended for yet another project (but I never got to it). Those I could stuff all the way into the steeple and light everything evenly.
The stain glassed windows are simple plexi glass. My wife cut up some colored tissue paper and glued them on. On the opposite side I used a chrome pen to finish it up.
I’m very happy with the results and I’ve got many more 2x4s sitting in my scrap piles.
