Introduction: How to Make a Simple Boat Out of Chopsticks

With a few materials and a considerable number of chopsticks, you can make a small boat!

Step 1: Grab Materials

The Materials:

- Small Knife

- Pen

- Tacky Glue

- 1 pack of chopsticks (at least 20 chopsticks)

Step 2: The Notch Technique / the Main Reference

Get one chopstick and that will be your main reference line, or frame.

The front third of the chopstick would have to be curved for the front of the boat, so notches will have to be made (half deep, about one centimeter apart, refer to picture) first.

Then bend the chopsticks around the notches. It's okay for the chopstick to break a little, the later steps will cover for the breaks.

Step 3: Adding the First Layer

Get two chopsticks and one will be attached to either side.

These chopsticks would be significantly shorter than the main reference chopstick (MRC), the length of the end of the MRC to the point where it begins to curve (refer to images)

When placed next to the MRC, the chopsticks would have to be placed in an upward, diagonal direction so that they can fit the curvature of the boat (refer to fourth step for what this looks like).

Step 4: Adding the Second Layer

Get two sets of chopsticks, but do not separate them.

Get the bigger end of the each set of chopsticks and carve them like in the image above so that they can fit the front curvature of the boat. Cut the bottom of each set of chopsticks so that they fit the length of the first layer.

Place the sets of the chopsticks at an upward diagonal direction from the first layer.

Step 5: Adding the Third Layer

Adding the third layer is a bit more difficult. Get two sets of chopsticks, and without separating them, glue the chopsticks to together, as shown in the image above. At the end, you should have two sets of glued chopsticks.

Then, at the bigger part of each chopstick, three centimeters down, make three notches (as shown in the image) that are 1.5 centimeters apart, and curve the chopsticks. Carve the end so that the front matches the curvature of the boat, and glue in an upward diagonal direction from the second layer.

Step 6: Adding the Fourth and Fifth Layer

Get two more sets of glued chopsticks, and do the same process as the third step, but making the notches four centimeters down from the smaller end of the sets. Curve them more at the end so that the curvature is accentuated, and you would need to hold down on them so they hold still while the glue dries. This is by far the most difficult step in making the boat.

Make another layer and make the notches 5 centimeters down from the smaller end of the glued sets.

Step 7: Finishing the Back

Get 5 pieces of chopsticks that match the gaps between each layer and glue them down, respective to their layers. In this way, the back will be finished.