By

V Susan

Hi! I'm Susan. I am passionate about woodworking, general DIY and home improvement. If you'd like to connect with me or talk about something you like at mellowpine, drop me a mail at susan@mellowpine.com

| UPDATED

February 6, 2023

Hey everyone, I’m back with another quick and easy DIY Project, a wooden key holder with a letter rack.

We built this good-looking and functional key holder in a couple of hours.

You can build this keyholder for under $10 with the correct lumber.

As all DIY’ers say, why buy when you can build it? Although sometimes, it ends up costing more than buying it off amazon, :).

Seriously though, nothing can beat the satisfaction of making something with your own hands.

This a part of a series of quick and easy (under 2 hours) projects we did. The other projects in the 2-hour project series are:

Things You Need For This Build

Materials

Nominal Size: 1″ x 4″ x 96″ lumber ( Actual Size: ¾” x 3.675″ x 96″)
½” thick scrap wood for the braces at the back
Wood Screws
Wall Hooks
Wood Glue
Danish Oil

Tools

Plan for the Wooden Key Holder

Please note the difference in dimension between nominal size and actual size. For e.g., 2 x 4 is the nominal size while 1-½” x 3-½” is the actual size. This is a standard convention.

Note: This entire build uses ¾” thick lumber except for the two bracing pieces at the back which are not in view.

How to Build the DIY Wooden Key Holder

Step 1: We cut out four nos of ¾” x 3” x 16” size pieces on the miter saw from ¾” x 3” size lumber for pieces. (The Triangular portion is cut out in a later step).

Base Piece Plan- Note the four 16″ x 3″ pieces including the triangles

Step 2: Then we cut out two nos of ¾” x 2-½” x 12” size for the facing piece of the letter rack.

Marking the size for the face pieces of the letter rack

Step 3: Next we cut out one piece of 1-¼” x ¾” x 12” for the top horizontal piece of the key holder.

Marking the size for the top horizontal piece

Step 4: Next for the bracing pieces at the back we made two pieces of ½” x 1-¼” x 12”.

These pieces are purely for keeping the base pieces together and to avoid a long wait time after clamping.

Without these pieces, we would have to wait for hours until the glue in between the base pieces dry.

With this, we can move on to the next steps instantly without clamping and waiting.

Step 5: Next we had to cut off the triangular portion as per plan for the base piece of the holder.

We marked a point 3” from the lower end on both sides and joined it to the middle of the piece.

After we made the marking, we cut off the wood along the line on the miter saw.

Marking the line for cutting the corner of the base piece

Cutting the constituent pieces of the base of the key holder — Making the constituent pieces of the base of the key holder as per plan

Base pieces with edges mitered as per plan

Step 6: Next we made the triangle to raise up the envelope holder piece. The triangle measures ¾” x 1-¼” (Height) x 5″ (Length) (check drawing).

Cutting the triangular piece on the miter saw

All pieces were ready at this point.

Four pieces for the base, two pieces for the bracing at the back, one top horizontal piece and two triangular pieces for the letter rack and two facing pieces for the letter rack.

All pieces sized and laid out before joining — All eleven pieces for the key holder sized and laid out before joining

Step 7: Then we sanded down everything from 120 grit up to 220 grit using the random orbital sander.

Sanding all the pieces for the key holder

The two bracing pieces are fixed for screwing together the main part of the key holder.

Another option is to clamp them and wait for several hours.

Since we wanted this to be a two-hour project, we decided to go this route. Plus the back of the key holder won’t be visible after it’s hung on the wall. This is similar to the joinery on a pallet box.

Step 9: Now we had to put everything together as per the plan. We drilled the pilot holes for the screws (1-¼”) and countersinked them.

Step 10: So we first applied glue on the edges of the base pieces and used both screws and glue to hold it together. We used the quick grip clamp to align it perfectly after gluing.

Applying glue on the base pieces before joining them using the bracing piece at the back

Temporarily clamping the base pieces for fixing the bracing pieces at the back

Then fixed the two pieces at the top and bottom of the key holder on the back of the holder.

After fixing the bracing pieces at the back

Step 11: As the next step we fixed the raised triangle for the envelope holder.

Triangular pieces fixed on the base piece

We then fixed the two facing pieces for the letter rack using screws. . We used two pieces for this part instead of one big piece, purely for aesthetic reasons.