12 Simple Woodworking Projects To Sell Online in 2025 - Shopify

Curious about how to sell woodworking projects? Whether you’re a casual DIYer or skilled woodworker, check out these woodworking project ideas to sell online.

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Many ecommerce success stories started with a hobby.

One hobby you can turn into an online business idea is woodworking. You don’t need to be a skilled artisan to turn your woodworking projects into products. There are many popular wood projects suitable for all skill levels—it’s just a matter of figuring out which project is right for you and which niche you want to target.

Read on to explore the most profitable woodworking projects as well as everything you need to get started. For some of these projects you need little more than some wood glue and a few pieces of quality wood.

From there, you’ll be on your way toward building your own handicrafts business.

Wooden signs are an incredibly easy woodworking project to get started with. They come in all shapes and sizes, and people use them in lots of different ways, indoors and out. They can be made with simple scrap wood and customized to fit the needs of your target audience.

For example, it’s common for people to decorate their homes with wooden signs that have personalized sayings or their family name inscribed on them. Wooden signs are also popular at events like weddings and parties, often as welcome and directional signage.

You can create wooden signs in a number of ways. You could hand paint, carve, or brand the wood to make your designs come to life. You could also use a Cricut to make your wooden signs.

Anyone can make basic signs with stencils and paint. More advanced signs (like those with carved letters) need some woodworking experience. You should be comfortable using basic power tools and have steady hands for detailed work.

Basic supplies like paint and reclaimed wood are cheap. Costs go up if you decide to use a Cricut, or if you source fancy woods like walnut or maple, which can go for $10 to $20 per board foot.

Shippers and ecommerce companies use wood pallets to move large amounts of product. The problem is, these pallets are wasteful—but they’re ideal material for a variety of woodworking projects you can turn into cash flow.

The following all make great repurposed pallet projects:

Infinite Abyss has a collection of woodworking projects in its DIY guide Wood Pallet Wonders. The brand also sells home and décor products made from wood pallets in its online store.

Just remember, if you plan to sell these products online you need to account for shipping and handling. That’s important both in terms of protecting the product from damage while in transit and in terms of keeping shipping costs down, especially for larger and heavier items. The projects that sell the most might not be the most profitable when accounting for shipping costs, so it’s important to do upfront research to get the whole picture of your potential products before manufacturing and selling them.

Taking apart pallets is simple but requires some muscle and patience. For a finished look, you’ll need to know how to safely remove nails without splitting wood, sand rough edges, and make straight cuts with a saw.

You can find pallets for free or low cost. The main supplies you’ll need are a pry bar ($15), hammer, sandpaper, and screws.

Kitchen products have proven time and time again to be among the top projects that sell consistently. Keep it simple with a wooden cutting board and wooden coasters or go for something more specialized, like detailed wooden utensils. You could even create a wooden serving tray or a wine rack.

Old World Kitchen is a fantastic example of a skilled woodworker that built a business around these projects. The merchant started selling wares on Etsy and eventually moved over to Shopify to scale the business.

Kitchen products require attention to detail. You can create more basic products like cutting boards or coasters. More advanced skills are required for tools like spoons or spatulas, where you have to do more shaping.

Everything needs to be food-safe, which brings prices up a bit. A basic cutting board might use $20 in materials, but costs quickly go up for larger or more complex items, stains, or sealers.

🥄 Success story: Old World Kitchen’s leap from Etsy to Shopify

The Polder family started their handcrafted wooden spoon brand by selling door to door before launching on Etsy. Now, they sell both through the marketplace and a standalone ecommerce store.

There’s a lot of opportunity for selling furniture online. As consumers have fewer in-person options, they turn to online shopping to fulfill their needs. Environmentally conscious brand Fyrn sells beautifully crafted wooden furniture on its website, including its staple collection of chairs.

A post shared by FYRN (@fyrnstudio)

Pieces like stools or side tables may be doable for beginners, while more intricate pieces like chairs and dining room tables might demand more experience.

Quality wood and hardware are expensive, plus it takes time to build furniture properly and safely. For a simple side table, wood alone might cost anywhere from $50 to $150, plus the cost of screws, finish, and basic tools if you don’t have them already.

Contrary to what you might think, surfing is a year-round sport, so there’s a pretty consistent demand for surfing gear. However, many surfboards are made of foam, fiber, plastic, and other materials that aren’t exactly environmentally friendly.

Using wood is one way to make surfboard manufacturing a bit more sustainable—at least that’s what David Dennis of Ventana Surfboards and Supplies has figured out.

Shaping and waterproofing wooden boards requires specialized tools and techniques. If you want to get into crafting surfboards, it’s wise to have personal experience with surfing. That way, you’ll better understand the nuances of what makes a quality board, and your passion for the sport will help buoy you through the ins-and-outs of learning a new craft and running a business.

Quality wood like cedar or balsa—plus the cost of multiple wood-finishing steps—can all add up to some big price tags. However, since you can sell wooden surfboards at premium prices, you may be able to create good profit margins nevertheless.

Another flexible idea, wooden boxes make great woodworking projects that sell. It’s a suitable idea for skilled artisans and newbies alike. You can go straightforward with basic crates and storage boxes, or get creative with decorative shelving and ornate wooden jewelry boxes. With a little bit of wood glue, you can really create some incredibly creative boxes that your customers will love.

The “wooden money box” has become a hit on TikTok. These simple wooden boxes, used for saving cash, often have nice touches like carved words or clear windows. People post videos of themselves putting money into these handmade boxes, which usually have lids that slide or swing open. It’s a basic woodworking project that has caught on through social media.

Basic boxes (like storage crates) are great for beginners. You just need to hone your skills in straight cuts and basic joins. Fancier boxes, like for jewelry, might require more skill because you’re working with smaller cuts and nicer woods overall.

Costs vary by wood type and details like hardware, carving, or inlays.

Wooden picture frames coupled with wall art can be a great combination to sell. Picture frames are relatively easy to make, and you can do all different sizes and styles. You can even repurpose old or scrap wood. Barnwood USA, for example, uses repurposed barn wood to make its wood products.

A post shared by Barnwood USA (@barnwoodusa)

Straight cuts and simple joinery make frames good for newer woodworkers.

You can use scrap or reclaimed wood to keep material costs down.

Children’s wooden blocks are great because you can use wood scraps to create blocks of different shapes and sizes. You can also paint them different colors or add burnt iron designs. PoppyBabyCo, for example, sells wooden blocks for children. You can get creative with your own collections.

A post shared by WOODEN TOYS USA (@poppybabyco)

Cutting shapes from scrap wood and sanding edges is straightforward. Carving or painting adds more complexity.

Minimal materials are required. Surfaces just need to be safe and non-toxic, and you should make sure the individual blocks aren’t small enough to be a choking hazard to young kids.

Birdhouses are a lovely indoor or outdoor decoration. Plus, they’re a common item for people to collect, so it’s an excellent niche to get into. You can create a simple bird house using just recycled wood or invest in higher quality material.

Many Shopify merchants sell wooden birdhouses online. Stone Bridge Collections, for example, has an entire category dedicated to its wooden birdhouses. Stone Bridge’s birdhouses are species-specific—it even has a bat house for sale.

A post shared by Stone Bridge Collections (@stonebridgecollections)

Crafting simple birdhouses is approachable for beginners. If you want to build homes for specific birds, you’ll need more skills. Some birds need different-sized holes and spaces or angled cuts. Weather-proofing a birdhouse is also trickier.

Basic birdhouses are inexpensive, but advanced designs or higher-end wood can add to your product development costs.

Wood is a great material for making planters and pots for all kinds of plants—everything from planter boxes for small home vegetable gardens to tiny succulent holders to be used as desk accessories. Woodchuck USA sells desktop planters and also promises to plant a tree for every product sold.

You can also create complementary items for the home gardener. To accompany an outdoor planter box, consider items like potting tables and benches, like this one from Lee Display.

A post shared by Lee Display (@leedisplay)

Basic box planters for plants are relatively easy. If you can make straight cuts and drill holes for drainage, you can build one.

Generally affordable unless using premium exterior-grade wood or hardware.

Selling art online is a great way to turn your creative projects into income. Wood is an excellent material to craft with, and you can make a variety of items. It really depends on your creativity and skill set—and what customers are willing to buy. Feel free to experiment with your creations.

Depends on your vision. Everything from simple wood cutouts to elaborate sculptures or wall art requires different skill sets.

Depends on the materials and techniques used. Art pieces can become premium products if you use high-end materials or unique methods.

Wooden toys are a profitable woodworking project. Plastics and other harmful materials are on the minds of parents everywhere—you can position your wood alternatives as safe and non-toxic. Happy Little Folks creates handcrafted wooden toys that are earth-friendly.

A post shared by Happy Little Folks - Handcrafted Wooden Toys (@happylittlefolks)

Wooden toys can be enjoyed by people of all ages, from wooden chess sets, to wooden puzzles. So keep your options open when thinking of your next woodworking project.

Simple toys (like blocks or cars) aren’t too hard to make. Puzzles or toys with moving parts need more skill like sanding and painting.

Safety standards like smooth edges and non-toxic finishes add time and cost.

Each of the following woodworking project ideas requires different materials, tools, and expertise. That said, there are some basic woodworking tools you should have at your disposal before diving in.

Creating your woodworking projects is only half the battle. Once your projects are ready for new homes, it’s up to you to find them. It will likely take some trial and error to discover which woodworking project will sell, but here are a few tips to help improve your chances of success.

Use the list above as a starting point to give you ideas. Once you’ve chosen a trending product, you’ll want to start with a test project. Make sure you can execute your creation so not only you are happy with it, but paying customers as well.

Now it’s time to figure out who is willing to buy your product. Start by exploring your local woodworking scene to get a sense of the market. Spend time at craft fairs and furniture stores to understand what’s actually selling in your area. You might notice that while everyone’s making farmhouse tables, there’s hardly anyone crafting modern pieces or specializing in built-ins.

The real test comes from putting your work out there. Small craft fairs can teach you more about pricing and customer preferences than any amount of research. You might find that customers love your design style but want different wood species, or that they’re willing to pay premium prices for custom modifications.

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If you want to sell online, you’ll need to build an ecommerce site. Running your own online store on your own domain gives you complete control over your business—from pricing and promotion through to shipping and fulfillment. Third-party marketplaces come with more restrictions, and a physical space has more overhead.

You can use Shopify’s website builder to create an online storefront. You’ll get access to customizable, mobile-responsive themes and 24/7 live support to help you design your website. Extend the functionality of your site with more than 8,000 apps in the Shopify App Store for marketing, analytics, and support.

Once you’re ready to start selling, Shopify has everything you need to connect with your audience. You can accept payments, capture leads and customer information, and send emails from the platform.

Find a name and domain for your business

Shopify’s free AI business name generator will help you come up with the perfect business brand name, then secure a relevant domain.

Now it’s time to take product photos, write compelling descriptions, and list them online for the world to see—and purchase. You’ll definitely want to list the items on your website, and you might also consider third-party marketplaces to help increase your audience reach.

Etsy in particular is a great place to sell handcrafted goods, but there are Etsy alternatives worth checking out as well. You can search “wood projects” to help you discover which are selling on Etsy.

Pricing is another story. You want to price your products high enough to cover your time and expenses and still earn a profit on top of that, but not so high that no one will buy them.

Once your website is up and running and your product pages are live, you have to put in the work to attract people to visit your online store. You can drive traffic through both organic and paid marketing strategies and tactics.

Over time, you’ll have more data to help you better understand your business. Your Shopify analytics dashboard shows key sales, orders, and online store visitor data, among other information. You can analyze that information to uncover strengths and weaknesses and even potential new opportunities.

If you want to sell wood projects, get yourself set up with a reliable online store builder like Shopify. Shopify has a whole suite of tools to manage every aspect of your business, with the features you need at every stage.

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Illustration by Chris Gash

Here are a few ideas for woodworking projects that sell:

Yes, a woodworking business is profitable. If you price your products strategically and keep expenses low, you can make a good profit margin from selling your woodworking projects.

If you sell a wooden cutting board or wine rack, for example, it won’t cost as much to make as a fully polished wooden coffee table. The amount of profit you can make from your woodworking project depends on factors such as the cost of materials, marketing, shipping, and other overhead expenses.

Some of the handmade wood items that sell best include:

Woodworking projects sell for a variety of prices. You can sell lower-priced, easy wood projects like coasters for as little as a few dollars, whereas complex projects made by skilled artisans can go for tens of thousands of dollars. Start with an easy woodworking project and then scale as your skills evolve and your shop generates more sales.

Here’s an example of one common pricing formula: Calculate your total material costs (e.g., wood, hardware, finishes) and multiply by three or four to cover your time and overhead. From there, check if similar items in your market sell for that price, and make adjustments accordingly to keep your prices competitive.

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