July 4th Mini Flag Stands

This a quick project that can help you use up some of your small scraps of hardwood. During this time of year there are lots of inexpensive small decorative flags in every store. The small ones seem like they are always used by sticking them in the ground. But a small block of wood with a hole drilled in it makes a great way to display them indoors.

I started by cutting up my scrap hardwood pieces into cubes. The smallest usable size seems to be about 1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ for heavier woods like oak. Below are my first prototypes. A 13/64″ hole was drilled in the center but not all the way through.

I probably could have just stopped here. But the wood cubes looked like they needed something else to smooth some of the sharp edges. So I decided to cut a 30 degree bevel along all four sides of the top.

For finishing, I used stain and clear spray polyurethane on the oak pieces and red, white & blue spray paint on the maple pieces. Here are some pictures of the finished stands: