First thing, you don’t have to have access to a complete woodshop with lots of expensive tools for the Scout to get a lot out of this merit badge. I’ve taught this merit badge using nothing but “primitive” hand tools on a campout to a group that wanted an old fashioned woodworking class. I’ve also taught this merit badge by building shelves in our Church as the main project. However, most of the classes have been in my shop - it just depends on what interests your Scout.

The primary things I do during woodworking merit badge is stress basic skills and the planning stage of the woodworking project. If those two things are done prior to the Scout jumping into his project, the project will come out better and the Scout will be much happier with the result.

For example, recently I had a Scout want to build duck houses that would be used in a service project. I had him draft scale drawings of the completed house and each one of the boards that would be cut. This way he could visualize the completed duck house and lay out his cuts on the plywood we were using to minimize waste.

The other think that I typically do is give the Scout a rough piece of lumber right from the lumber pile and have him square and plane the wood to get it ready for use.  For those that are interested, we also cut dovetails by hand. I haven’t found a Scout yet who didn’t take a lot of pride in a well cut dovetail joint.

Lastly, I’ve had several folks email me asking what a “bit and brace” are.  Using them is one of the badge requirements. A brace is a manual, hand-held drill, and the bit is the drill bit.  I have several in my shop that I have the Scouts learn to use, but you can use a moden power drill and teach them to use it correctly to meet the intent of the requirement. See the picture below: