How to Make a Wooden Flash Drive

I made this at Techshop Detroit.

I had a crappy flash drive that I picked up from some random place. I usually have around a dozen or so. I keep quite a few because they are very handy and I loose them from time to time. They disappear in my backpack, tool bag, pockets, I don't know where the heck they go.

I decided to make a big, bulky, but still light weight, wooden one. It came out pretty nice and was a fun project to make pretty quickly.

Things you will need:

- 1 crappy flash drive

- piece of scrap wood

- glue

- clamp

- band saw

- sander

- drill press

- boiled linseed oil

- rag

- tape

Grab a piece of scrap wood from the bin at Techshop. I used pine because it is light weight and readily available.

On the band saw cut out two rectangles. I wasn't to specific on size and gave myself plenty of room to work with.

Now I could have used a router or something else but a drill is quick and easy and that is how I like to work.

Clamp down your blank and start to drill a couple holes the approximate size of the drive. I used the largest bit I have, 1/2", and made 5 or 6 plunges on the drill press.

Repeat on the other blank.

Check the drive fits.

Once you have sufficient room to fit the flash drive, glue it in place.

I used Gorilla Glue Epoxy which works well.

Spread a good amount on each side and place in the flash drive.

Clamp the pieces together and give it some time to dry, at least an hour before removing the clamps.

After that I trimmed away some of the excess glue.

I cut away the excess wood on the band saw. Careful not to go too close.

I hit the edges on the sander and smoothed everything out.

I left it chunky and raw on purpose because I think it looks good and I wanted to keep it larger to prevent me loosing yet another flash drive.

I used boiled linseed oil as my finish because it is easy to use and I had some available.

I applied it using a cloth and wiped away any excess. 3 coats is recommended but it does need to dry thoroughly between layers.

After that you will have a unique flash drive that you will hopefully not loose.