Making a Wooden Guitar Pick

Music is very inspirational to me, I always have music playing in my shop when I am working, and in my room when I am blogging.

And I love playing guitar. Playing music and writing songs is calming and relaxing in its own way, and is very enjoyable.

When I play my guitar I do not like soft picks, I think they give the guitar a tinging sound. This is why I decided to make a wood one, it is hard yet it will not scratch my guitar up. And I was able to make the pick out of a little piece of scrap, that I was going to throw away, so it was a good deal all in all.

I have also made some awesome necklaces out of my wood picks, the necklaces make for perfect gifts.

So this is how I make my wooden guitar picks.

Step 1: Tools and Materials

Tools

• sand paper
• I used a 1x30 belt sander for making my picks, it makes everything go faster in the shaping process.

Materials

• Wood

A note about the wood, you want a thin peace of wood not too thick. I would say that the piece I used here was about 1/8th of an inch thick.

Step 2: Wood

I have used oak, hickory, osage, and pine, all of those work but I have found that hard woods are best for picks, they hold up better and do not split as easy. I am using lace wood in this inscrutable, I really like the look of it and I think it makes a good guitar pick.

Step 3: Shaping

I start with a little square then using the belt sander I start to shape it. you can trace a real guitar pick if you want to, I prefer free handing it though. You want to make sure that you taper the pick so it has a point so that it is easier to play the guitar with. At this point you just want the basic shape, you do not want to take to much wood off or you will have the pick split in half, so go slow and steady.

Step 4: Hand Sanding

Now you need to start hand sanding you want the whole pick smooth and uniform, so it looks more than a flat piece on wood. As you can see the lace wood adds a two tone look to the pick, which really makes the pick stand out. After shaping it by hand, I sand it with some 400 grit sand paper, this brings the grain out a little more.

Step 5: End

Now go play a tune with your new pick. Or if you want to you could drill a small hole in the top, put a ring in and you have a pendent for a necklace.

I hope you have enjoyed my instructable, I would love to hear what you think.

And as always thank you for taking time to look at my projects.

Caleb

Step 6: