Struggling to find stuff to do at the moment? This is a ridiculously easy project that costs less than a tenner and doesn’t require any fancy equipment. The wood and cord can be ordered online so there’s no need to leave the confines of your home. It also works pretty well as a card-hanging device so if you want to give it a go, read on.
Planning
Okay so there’s probs no need to spend hours planning this out as it’s pretty simple but sketching out the dimensions at least will help you work out how much wood you need. I wanted to make the whole thing out of one 2.4 metre length so went for 60cm long and 40cm wide, with a wood support across the back.
To hang photos/cards off, I bought some real cheap cord from eBay and worked out that it would work best to have 3 cords across the frame to hang from.
Cutting
As there are only 5 cuts to make, a handsaw’s all you need. If you want to use the same dimensions as I did, cut 2 x lengths of 600mm (left and right sides) and 3 x lengths of 364mm (top, bottom and middle support) using a couple of clamps to secure the wood in place. If you don’t have any clamps you could probably just get someone to sit on the other end of the wood. Once you’ve made the cuts, use a fine grit sandpaper to smooth over the edges.
Drilling holes for cord
It’s worth drilling the holes that the cord is going to pass through before assembling the structure. I left a 17cm gap from one cord down to the next to allow for cards to fit so this meant 3 holes for the cord on either side. The cord is held in place just by tying a knot at the top and bottom so drilling a countersink into these holes will allow the knot to sit in.
Assembling
Once you’re all cut and pre-drilled, the frame can be screwed together. I went for a simple ‘butt joint’ so it was just a case of drilling some pilot holes and then putting a couple of screws in at each joint. It’s important to make sure that the joints are secured at a right angle and the best thing to use for this would be a set square but anything with a right angle that you can butt up against the wood will do the trick.
You could stop here if you like but the frame ideally needs some more structural support. This is where the 3rd short length comes in – screw it into the back of the frame, half way down to make it more rigid.
Adding cord
Once the structure is finished you can thread the cord through the pre-drilled holes, tie knots at the end and you’re done! I’m going to leave the frame naked but it would look great with a wood stain or painted.
Hanging
I’ve not got round to hanging this properly yet but I’d recommend drilling a couple of holes into a wall, about 4cm from the edge of the frame and pop in some wall plugs and screws. Then drill some slightly larger holes into the back of the frame and simply hang the frame onto the screws.
There’s not a great deal that can go wrong making this thing. And the beauty is, even if you do cock-up it’s so cheap that it would make great firewood.
Materials
- Planed timber 18mm X 94mm X 2.4m https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Whitewood-PSE-Timber—18mm-x-94mm-x-2-4m/p/9000036445
- Black cord https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4MM-Black-Draw-string-Braided-Cord-x-10-meters/162833644605?epid=1572276841&hash=item25e9a43c3d:g:ojwAAOSwPK1ZWBIz
- Wood screws
Equipment
- Handsaw
- Pencil
- Ruler
- Measuring tape
- Set square
- Drill with bits including countersink bit
- Screwdriver
- Clamps
- Fine grit sandpaper
- Scissors
project-number-nine.com 
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