How to Make Wood Jack-O-Lanterns Update! Brad Nailer Tips and Tricks and New Designs for Halloween!

[@k9kayaks]

Red stain for the vampire looks great !! Really stands out 🦇👍

[@themunce1]

I use wood glue, but not braid nails. I use 1" pin nails. It holds great and if you have a blow out.. its easier to repair as oppose to 18 gauge braid nails. On another note: Love your video's. I like the details you give. Thank you for making this.

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Yeah, I'm sure the pins would hold out until the glue dries, I just didn't own a pin nailer when I made the original video.

[@daveb9562]

I just finished following you on first video on making these. The upgrades here are really well done, great job. Can't wait to give them a try.

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thanks! They're fun to make. A nice break from the stuff I'm usually working on.

[@kimhavey7850]

Love these!! Great tips!! For the bottom, my thinking...make it exactly the width of an extra picket all the way around, then you can hold a scrap piece on the edge to know where the piece under it will start. You can also use that scrap piece to make sure the bottom is sitting correctly. I also think it would great to make the back hinge open so you don't have reach all the way in to put the light in...

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thanks! I thought about the hinge idea too, but it seems like a significant amount of extra work and materials that you really wouldn't be able to get your money back. If you raise the prices too high, nobody will buy them. I decided to make them as simply as I could in order to get the highest possible profit margin. But if you're making them for yourself and not selling them, it's a great idea.

[@Saintcustomwoodworking]

😂 I love how you hit that brad into the fake piece to hold it . Great frustration cure

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Lol. You gotta do what you gotta do! That top is pretty beat up. I've been meaning to replace it with a sheet of black melamine for a while, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

[@Kevo20]

I use a Ryobi One+ nail gun and have experienced blow outs and wondered why?! thank you so much for explaining and clearing that up. Excellent video and Jack-O-Lantern designs.

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thank you, and you're welcome!

[@goodwinml]

I have 2 Shapeoko cnc’s. I’ve been wanting to do these for a few years but never got around to making them. I like your rectangular box over the squyyou usually see these made with. You’ve put some great ideas in my head, thanks!❤ I would think if you spent a little time on a jig for the base mounting to the body. Time is money! Much faster batch processing them with a jig. Less time measuring all sides to center. Just slide bottom into jig. The jig is a 2 level design. 1st level is a piece of wood the same thickness of your base. It has a 3 sided hole cut out so base slides in easily. 2nd piece is glued to 1st. It has 3 sided cutout the size of the body. Once the base is inserted then glue edge of body and set on top of base in jig. Perfect alignment every time. Once glue dry enough to hold, take out and shoot brads. Or build upside down jig. The same basic design. 1st is body on table. Have the jig so it sits somehow on the body. Once the jig is sitting on body you put you a bead of tightbond on. Then put base in jig on top of glue and brad nail. Now all base plates are aligned perfectly every time.

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

That's a good idea about the jig. I'll see what I can come up with for one.

[@katspeace5550]

Love the Vamp! Haven't seen that before 😎🤘🏼

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thanks, Kat!

[@larrystone5749]

Good job and thank you for sharing Keep building

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thank you, I will!

[@scottromero2091]

Glad to see you back. Good video

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thanks Scott. Yeah, between my day job and trying to keep up with orders, I've had a hard time finding time to make videos. Hopefully it will get better.

[@morethanenoughwoodworks7654]

Well done, great content

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thank you!

[@jackies_world]

These look great!!

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thanks!

[@k9kayaks]

Will you do any Christmas theme boxes like snowflakes or Christmas trees ?

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

As popular as these videos have been, I think I'll have to. Maybe for all the holidays.

[@STA_FARMS]

Great video, love the colors. I went back and watched the first video as well, I might have missed it but did you say what brand and color stain? I have bought tinted stains in the past but they were not that dark more transparent with a tint to them

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

These are all minwax stains from Lowes. In the video I'm using the semi transparent tint base, but only because I already had it and don't want to waste it. I strongly recommend you use the minwax solid tint base. Go check out my 2 videos on staining American flags to see why. The colors I'm using are hunter green, true black, and pure white.

[@STA_FARMS]

@@maverickdesignswoodworking Thanks

[@charleshicks7669]

awesome look, where did you get the stencils please

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thanks. I got them from Etsy. There's a link in the description.

[@davidjefferds8532]

Great video.

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thanks, David!

[@johnnygsdiy1981]

Thanks for the follow up video. I didn’t read all of the comments but I’m assuming that you go to trade shows and flee malls to sell your stuff, or do you have a store front? Thanks in advance. New subscriber!

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thanks! Yes, I do trade shows, craft fairs, gun shows, etc., as often as I can, but I've been kept busy with bigger custom projects and furniture lately, which will be a lot of the new videos coming out.

[@johnnygsdiy1981]

@@maverickdesignswoodworking I got a little KZbin channel myself. I do a lot of woodworking to, but I haven’t got into selling to much yet. I look forward to seeing what you got in the future.

[@jcowboy123]

Can i ask what stains you used ? Awesome project thanks so much !

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Minwax fiesta orange, true black, pure white, and hunter green.

[@jcowboy123]

@@maverickdesignswoodworking thank you !

[@robertdiffin9136]

Thank you!

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

You're welcome!

[@jlathem56]

Cool project. I have seen other projects that had similar issues sticking the electrode (protruding dowels) onto a board after assembly. I catch myself wondering if you drilled a smaller hole into the board and the dowel sort of like a dowel joint or just drilling a hold into the board the same size as your electrode and gluing them in would have worked and been a bit stronger. Anyway, cool project and thank you for sharing it.

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thanks. Yeah, making a hole and gluing them in would've been better, but I'll just use these 2 for displays, and make others to sell with a screw, like the top.

[@jlathem56]

@@maverickdesignswoodworking great idea!

[@Dan-ol2rd]

Great video and instruction, thank you. I agree with you, the rectangular shape looks much better than the square, what size did you make your sides?

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thanks! They are 3.5 x 10.

[@ClearViewSolutionsMS]

Is there a tool I can use in place of a scroll.saw, but better than a Jig saw? These are awesome. I hope they've sold well.

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

You could also use a CNC or a router, but if you use a router you're going to need templates. There's a guy here on KZbin and on Facebook that sells templates, called Wallace Workshop. But after you've spent money on all those templates, you could have just gotten a cheap scroll saw from Harbor Freight or Wen, or even a used one from Facebook marketplace, and then you can do any design you want and not be limited to only the templates you can get.

[@ClearViewSolutionsMS]

@@maverickdesignswoodworking thanks for the info. I appreciate it.

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

You're welcome!

[@jcowboy123]

I'd like to know how much you sold them for ? Thx great video

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

20 each or 3 for 50.

[@jcowboy123]

@@maverickdesignswoodworking thank you 😊

[@MississippiPrepper]

These are awesome, I had thought about trying some of these, maybe if time allows. The white stain would make a cool Scream/Ghostface also if you are looking for more ideas.

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Already did it! Watch the first video. This is an update to that one.

[@MississippiPrepper]

@@maverickdesignswoodworking 🤦🏻‍♂️ My bad bro, I do need to go back and watch it. I did really enjoy the tips on the Brad nails. I never really thought about which way I put them in before, but it makes so much sense! Thanks!

[@brt9168]

Very cool. For more halloween designs check out Zombie Pumpkins.

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thanks. Will do.

[@bobs7975]

Love your videos and teaching style. Excellent presentation. I’m a newbie so I’m wondering why you chose the brad nailer over a pin nailer? If you had to buy just one to start out with, which one would you choose and battery or pneumatic? Thanks Bob

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thanks. You could use either, I suppose, but pins are headless which makes a smaller hole, but because cedar is so soft and this wood so thin, my concern is that they would not hold it together as well as brad nails. You'd also have to play around with your air pressure (or depth on a battery one) so the pin doesn't push all or most of the way through the top piece. And to tell the truth, I didn't have a pin nailer yet when I made the first video, so using the brad nailer was a necessity. I prefer air over battery because the battery ones are so big and heavy. The air tools just feel more elegant to me, for lack of a better word.

[@bobs7975]

@@maverickdesignswoodworking Thanks for a great response. So as a first tool you’d say a brad nailer?

[@bobs7975]

@@maverickdesignswoodworking Thanks so much. I’ll be trying this project. I appreciate the advice so much! Bob

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Yeah, it's much more versatile. The pin nailer is more for finish molding and stuff like that.

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

You're absolutely welcome!

[@pantango5503]

Give everyone a tip on how to attach your template. Buy peel and stick shelf paper for around $7 a roll. Cut piece to fit board, peel off the back and attach it to your project, then attach the pattern to the shelf paper with spray adhesive or whatever is your liking. It's over all cheaper than painters tape (almost $8 a roll at some places), and it peel off real nice without any residue. Steve Good is the person that recommended this to me a while ago. If you like scroll sawing, that guy has you covered, highly recommend. Now, I need to make a few of these for my wife and daughter

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

I'll give it a try, but I'm not sure it's all that much cheaper. Between the roll and the spray adhesive, I can't imagine it being cheaper than using about 8 inches of painters tape, though it would definitely hold better. Also, I'm kinda lazy, and it seems like extra work, lol. But I'll give it a try, and if I do another video on these I'll mention it if I like it.

[@pantango5503]

@@maverickdesignswoodworking it is cheaper in the long run, and it's easier to get off than blue tape, especially if you wait too long to take blue tape off.

[@jeffmath2411]

My local LOWEs doesn’t have 1x6 Cedar fence pickets. I assume I can use the pine fence pickets or even just use regular pine correct? And where did you find the different face designs from.

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Yes any wood will work, it's just much cheaper to get fence pickets generally. There are a bunch of people selling those files on Etsy for just a couple dollars. That's where I got mine.

[@sirguy6678]

Home depot has them- most pine are pickets are treated

[@pantango5503]

You need to look down the aisle where they keep the premium woods like, red oak and popular. There is a section for cedar which includes fence slats. Now I live in the Midwest (Michigan), so idk where you are at and I'm assuming cedar is available. I just wanted to let you know they keep it separate from the other fence slats at my store in case you overlooked it.

[@jeffmath2411]

@@pantango5503 Okay I will check. I’m in New England. I will check next time I’m at Home Depot. If not, I’ll just use common pine instead

[@donnaglandorf3819]

Hi! Are you allowed to add the link to Etsy for the faces?

[@donnaglandorf3819]

Love these projects!

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thanks, Donna!

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

I think so. I'll paste it here and put it in the description. This is the one I got, but there are a lot of them there. www.etsy.com/listing/1068596566/pumpkin-face-x100-bundle Keep in mind though, that I drew out these newer ones myself-- they aren't in those files, except for the vampire face. That one I took elements from a couple different faces and put them together.

[@donnaglandorf3819]

@@maverickdesignswoodworkingThanks so much!😊

[@shoans3897]

I was wondering why you (not just you) would put the side panels showing? Why not put them behind the face you don’t see them? If you stain or water wash a color(white wash) the sides would be very noticeable and not aesthetically pleasing. Seen other’s do it as well. Just curious. Thanks for great info! 👍☺️

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

A couple of reasons. One, so I could get the shapes close to the edges and still have that extra half inch support on each side (some of the face designs are wide). But also so that the brad nails are showing at the sides rather than the face. Because we're staining and these are rather inexpensive items that I don't want to waste time and materials to make prettier, I don't want to have to deal with filler and sanding because they're on the face.

[@TheIronMoose]

Thanks

[@shoans3897]

@@maverickdesignswoodworking makes sense thank you 🙏!

[@k9kayaks]

Red stain for the vampire looks great !! Really stands out 🦇👍

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thanks!

[@robertheld4947]

Great video

[@maverickdesignswoodworking]

Thanks, Robert!