Family time – make your own DIY snack blocks

26 Sep 2024

Family snacks are made smart, simple and tidy with our DIY chip holders – just choose your favourite dipping sauce! These chip holders are an excellent way to use up wood offcuts from bigger projects, as well as any leftover paint and stain. Just measure your dipping containers carefully so you drill the right size hole for a perfect fit.

You will need:

• 90mm x 44mm x 900 length of timber
• Six sauce dishes
• Brown paper for cones
• Pencil
• Ruler
• 54mm hole saw blade for sauce dish hole (check your dish size)
• 44mm hole saw blade for cone hole
• Drill
• Sand paper
• Speed brush
• Resene Colour Enhance – we used Resene Colour Enhance Jarrah, Japan Black, Red Brown, Black, Walnut and White. 
• Resene Aquaclear

How to:

Step 1: Measure and cut six 150mm long blocks of timber.

 
Step 2: Work out the hole sizes you need and the spacing by placing your sauce dish and the holes saw blade for the chip cone hole, on the timber blocks. Make sure you have enough space between them, and to the edges of the timber.

We used a 54mm hole saw blade for our sauce dish, which was 60mm wide. Make sure your hole is a few millimetres smaller than your dish so it sits snugly and doesn’t fall through. We used a 40mm blade for the hole to sit the chip cones in.

Draw around the sauce dish and the smaller hole saw for the cones and mark the centre of each circle with a pencil. Line the drill bit up to the centre mark.

Step 3: Drill holes all the way through the block of wood. Note: keep the cylinder of wood that is drilled out of the block as it will make sanding easier.

Step 4: Wrap sandpaper around the wood cylinder and sand the inside of the holes. Wipe off sanding dust.

Step 5: Mix the Resene Aquaclear semi-gloss varnish with your chosen Resene Colour Enhance shades. We used a different colour on each chip holder - Resene Colour Enhance Jarrah, Japan Black, Red Brown, Black, Walnut and White. 

Step 6: Apply the Resene Colour Enhance mixed with Resene Aquaclear mixture to the blocks of timber. We found a speed brush gives good, even courage for wood stains.

Timber tabletop in Resene Colorwood Breathe Easy. Blocks in Resene Colour Enhance White, Resene Colour Enhance Walnut, Resene Colour Enhance Jarrah, Resene Colour Enhance Red Brown, Resene Colour Enhance Black and Resene Colour Enhance Japan Black mixed with Resene Aquaclear semi-gloss.

To make the paper cones, cut a right-angle triangle out of brown paper and roll into a cone shape. Secure the edge with tape, or a sticker.

project LauraGrace McFarland
images Bryce Carleton

Published: 26 Sep 2024