Turn Old Books Into a Knife Block

4 Materials
$10
1.5 Hours
Easy
Do you have some old books lying around? Make a one of a kind knife block that looks amazing and keeps your knives sharp at the same time.
The original knife block that inspired us to make ours was made by gluing books together and putting the knives in between the pages. We tried it but our knives kept on stabbing us when they slipped through the pages. So we decided to make a few changes. To make one all you need, besides hard cover books is some skewers, plywood and Mod Podge.
We decided to use bamboo skewers because I’d read somewhere that they help keep the knives sharp and I do have a tendency to use our knives for some weird things, like fixing plugs or screwing on a door handle. We carefully removed the pages from the books using a craft knife, then used the book pages to draw a template on plywood, which we cut out using a craft knife.
The bits of plywood were sealed with outdoor Podge and then glued on the inside of the book to form a "book box".
Once the glue had dried we cut lots, and lots, and lots of skewers to fit inside the "book boxes".
WARNING!!!! The skewers bits fly all over the place. Mind your eyes and be prepared to play pick up sticks for days to come. We glued the books together, inserted the skewers and the knives and we were done.
For all the step by step instructions and picture, come say hi on the blog.
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Michelle Leslie
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  • Sarah Liz Sarah Liz on Feb 19, 2018

    Why wouldn't you put the skewers in with the points up? Wouldn't that make it easier to slip the knives into place?

  • Carol Kakonyi Carol Kakonyi on Mar 02, 2018

    What where are you using birch wood to sit the books on for a base ??? Do we glue ? Little confused but also love the look 😀

  • Beth Beth on Sep 06, 2018

    Love this idea! Tried it and love the way it looks. But wonder if it okay if a blade sticks out (about an inch) over the skewers? (This is not a design question.)

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