Upcycling – make a new wooden lid for your old biscuit tin

You need: pencil, pocket rule, ruler, Wooden board, Old biscuit tin

First, you need to take a few measurements to make sure that your new, stylish lid also fits perfectly on top of your old biscuit tin.

To do this, measure the inside (!) of the existing tin with a pocket rule (image 1) and note down the values.

Transfer these measurements to a wooden board (image 2). Watch out: factor in the thickness of the saw blade when marking out the measurements so that you don’t saw off too much later.

You need: pocket rule, pencil, Old biscuit tin, Wooden board

Your lid will consist of two small boards. To obtain the exact measurements of the second board, simply place your tin on a wooden board and trace around the edges with a pencil.

You need: Hand-held circular saws, Multi-sander, Sanding sheet, g-clamps, Wooden boards from step 1

You can now saw the two rectangles you’ve marked out to length (image 1).

Once you’ve done that, it’s also then worth sawing all eight corners with a slant. This will make it easier to round them off when you’re sanding them (image 2).

Have you managed to saw all the boards? Then sand all of the sides and cut edges. You can sand the slanted corners so they’re nice and round to give the lid a premium look (image 3).

You need: pencil, protractor, Leather strap, Large wooden board from step 2

For this step, you’ll first need the larger of the two wooden boards. A leather loop made from a belt will be attached to this later.

This requires two slots to be made in the centre of the board.

To do this, first mark the positions for the slots – the width of them depends on the width of the belt you plan to use as the loop.

Measure the width of the belt and note down this value (image 1). Then, measure out the centre of the larger of the two boards from step 3 (image 2). Next, mark out two lines next to this marked centre point parallel to the two long sides of the board (images 3 and 4). The length of the lines corresponds to the measured width of the leather strap (image 5). The two lines are each about 3 mm away from the marked centre point.

You need: Cordless drill/driver, Brad point drill bit, 25 mm Forstner drill bit, g-clamps, Scrap wood board, Large wooden board from step 5

It’s now time to drill – not saw – the slots.

To do this, clamp the board firmly to your workbench using G-clamps (with a piece of scrap wood so that you don’t drill into your workbench).

Now, drill along the markings for the slots. Put the holes together so that they combine and form a wide gap (images 1 and 2).

You can remove any little bridges that might still be present after you’ve drilled the holes by moving the drill back and forth.

Next, turn the board with the slots over.

Change the bit on your drill to a Forstner drill bit.

Position this to both the left and right of the slots (image 3) and drill two slight recesses (image 4). The two circular recesses should overlap and more or less form a figure eight shape (image 5).

You need: Dremel VersaTip Butane soldering iron, Large wooden board from step 5

There’s still time to give your lid a more personal touch before you attach it to the tin. For example, you can use pyrography to create a personalised inscription and make your lid especially stylish. In general, however, it’s completely up to you how you design your lid – you can also use glue and paint, so get creative!

You need: Cordless drill/driver, Suitable bit set, IXO 7, Cordless screwdriver cuting adapter, Leather strap, Large wooden board from step 6, 2x screws (12 mm)

Back to the loop:

Thread the belt through the two slots so that a loop forms on the top (image 1). Make the loop as long as you want the handle for your wooden lid to be later.

You now need to shorten the longer ends (the ones you pulled through). Cut them to length so that they fit into the recesses you drilled earlier (images 2–4).

Then, turn down the two protruding ends away from one another and fix each of them with a screw (image 5).

You need: Cordless drill/driver, Suitable bit set, Brad point drill bit, g-clamps, 4x screws (3.5 x 30 mm), Large and small wooden board

You first need to pre-drill holes before you can screw the boards together.

Doing this for the bottom, smaller board is enough. Drill a hole in all four corners. You can also countersink these from below (!) so that the heads of the screws sit flush (image 1).

Then, place the smaller board on the underside of the upper board. Make sure that you position it precisely in the centre of the board. It might be helpful to quickly measure and mark out the centre before doing this.

When everything is in place, screw both boards together using four screws (image 2).

You can now put the new lid on your old biscuit tin, not to mention look forward to taking it off again – those Christmas biscuits aren’t going to eat themselves!