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This is a charming afternoon project: a plywood board cut into a mountain-range silhouette with a few dowel pegs poking out as hooks. It's the kind of build that looks designer but costs a scrap of 3/4" plywood and a length of dowel, and it's a great introduction to jigsaw shaping and clean dowel joinery.
The mountain shape is just straight lines between marked points, so it's forgiving — mark the peaks and valleys on the top and bottom edges, connect them, and cut to the lines with a jigsaw. There's no curve to fair, which makes it beginner-friendly.
The pegs are where a little precision pays off. Drill a small pilot hole all the way through the plywood at each peg location, then use a Forstner bit centered on that pilot to bore a flat-bottomed socket 3/8" deep — the pilot keeps the Forstner centered and gives you a screw path. Glue the dowels into the sockets, then flip the board and drive a self-tapping screw through the back into each dowel so a coat or bag can't pull it loose. Finish, add a picture-hanging kit, and hang it level.
| Item | Qty |
|---|---|
| 3/4" plywood scrap, 4-3/4" x 18" | 1 each |
| 1" diameter dowel, 10"3/4" dowel also works. | 1 each |
| Wood screws, 1-1/4" and 2" self-tappingThrough the back into each dowel. | 3 each |
| Picture-hanging kit | 1 each |
| Wood glue and finish | 4 oz |
Overall cost: $. Lumber prices vary by region, species, and season, so we give a band rather than a figure we would only be pretending to know.
| Part | Qty | T × W × L |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain plaque3/4" plywoodCut the mountain silhouette from straight lines between marked points. | 1 | 3/4" × 4 3/4" × 18" |
| Dowel pegs1" dowelRound stock; thickness and width are the diameter. Cut from the 10" length. | 3 | 1" × 1" × 3" |
Buy 2 boards at 8 ft.
1 board
1 board
Assumes 8 ft stock, a 1/8" saw kerf, and buying each part at its own width. Change the board size or kerf on the full board plan →
Cut the plywood to size with a circular saw. Mark the peak and valley points on the top and bottom edges, draw straight lines between them, and cut out the mountain silhouette with a jigsaw following the lines. Sand the edges smooth.
Mark the dowel locations. Drill a small pilot hole all the way through the plywood at each, then use the Forstner bit centered on that pilot to drill a flat-bottomed socket 3/8" deep. The pilot keeps the Forstner centered and gives you a screw path for later.
Cut the dowels to length (a miter saw is cleanest; a jigsaw or circular saw works if you clamp them first). Glue them into the sockets, then flip the board and drive a self-tapping screw through the back into each dowel so a load can't pull it out. Finish the piece, add a picture-hanging kit, and hang it level.
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