Easy Scrap Wood Keychain

by MyAlteredState

Sometimes I overthink things.
Sometimes, I feel like I need to force my brain into being creative. That doesn’t work.
With me, ideas and creativity will get there, when they gets there.
The more I try to force my brain, the more it resists until I end up in a blank stare.
Such is the case with all this scrap:

crafts keychain scrap wood, crafts, woodworking projects

I stared at it a lot.

I didn’t feel like cleaning it up and creating yet another scrap bin for these weirdo shapes, so I stared at it.

Nothing happened.

Finally, after several days of walking out to my shop, staring, and walking back inside, it came to me…

I happened to spot an old keychain in my office and it inspired me. (In case you’re curious, it was one of those floaty keychains for boat keys. Ya know, so the keys will float in the water should you happen to take them out of your boat’s ignition and toss them into the lake.)

This floaty keychain was weird shaped. My wood scraps were weird shaped. Perfect!

I wanted to do three wood keychains for this post, so I cut some shapes from a larger piece of wood. (I made more scrap.

I just messed around with the angle of the cuts on these. (seat of my pants.)

Then, I used my Dremel Multi-Max to sand the edges.

Then, I drilled holes.

Pause for this shot of my hand and all three pieces sanded / hole-drilled…

Next, I wiped them down with mineral spirits to clean off the dust.

After that, I was onto my clear coat of choice today: Duplicolor automotive spray paint. (clear)

I purchased this at a local automotive parts store (ex: Autozone, Pep Boys, etc.)

It dries super fast, and gives a really high gloss. It’s perfect for little things like keychains and trinkets. (I just used that word… trinkets.)

And of course I took another picture, this time, of it drying.

And, there you have it.

So easy. And, I didn’t have to think too much. (That’s always nice.)

I guess the moral to my little project is: When you need to pull an idea out of thin air, don’t break your neck to look up for it. Instead, let it fall when it’s ready, and thud you in the head.