Noise Maker From a Single Piece of Wood

Celebrate by making some noise. This noise maker requires no batteries or high-tech audio circuitry. It's a great improvement on banging a couple of pieces of wood together, as one hand is left free to enjoy a refreshing beverage while celebrating.

Having picked up a rectangular piece of scape wood, I thought I would try making a ball inside a cube. This changed to a ball inside a rectangle, which in turn 'pivoted' into a noise maker during construction.

Piece on wood 5 cm square by 12 cm long

I used Myrtle beech, an Australian wood, but a carving wood like Basswood would work fine.

Cut a piece of wood to be 5 cm square by 12 cm long. If it's a bit rough, smooth it a bit by rubbing the block on some 40-grit sandpaper.

Draw lines a centimeter in from each edge to form rails.

Draw a circle in the middle of the wood of an 'appropriate size' - I had drawn the circle to the edge of the wood. Turns out the size should have been that of the diagonal of the inner end square.

Using a Dremel like drill, with a thin drill bit, drill a series of holes a centimeter deep along the lines of the rectangular rails about 2 millimeters apart. Dill along the outline of the circle - inside the rectangle only. For the circle, drill halfway through the wood from each side.

Drill larger holes to remove wood not required.

Chisel away the wood to be removed. The chisel I was using was a bit blunt making this an underwhelming experience.

Using the small blade of a Swiss army knife, cut away any remaining wood from the rectangle rails. Cut around the striker (which was going to be a ball). Take your time and have a break when you want to. Once the striker has been cut free from the rails, remove any other wood so it slides freely between the 2 ends.

Wrapping tape around the handle of the pocketknife helps to avoid blisters.

Holding on to the rails, celebrate by shaking the striker back and forth against the ends.

The noise maker can be pivoted into a 'Ball in a cage' by following the photos above.