knome whistle

Gnome Whistle Tutorial

Things you will need:
A branch, I use buckthorn which is very invasive here in Minnesota and is okay to cut out of the woods. But I’ve used downed branches I’ve found on hikes. Please do not cut apart a healthy tree!
A drill, here I’ve used a hand drill because I had little helpers but if I’m making this by myself I use a power drill.
A drill bit the same size as the dowel you are using
The dowel I used is ¼” and so was the drill bit.
A coping saw for little hands this works great.
Sand paper fine grade.
Glue , I’ve used just plan school glue but usually I use wood glue.
Carving knife of chisel carving knife. My son uses a mora kids carving knife I got him a carving glove as well. When I do it without them I don’t usually wear a glove. Or a regular old pocket knife would work too.
Also I vice if you have one they are nice , I got this one at a garage sale down the block , but I’ve made these for years without a vice.
Also a sharpie or other marking device.

First thing is to cut your branch to the desired length I do about 31/2” to 4” Cut that with the coping saw to length.


Next drill the hole down the middle of the branch , be sure to not go through the sides and straight down the middle. Don’t stress out if it’s off or wider at the top this is not rocket science! Just make sure you get a nice deep hole about half way down.

Now your going to mark were you are going to cut half way down to begin the

whistle hole on the side of the branch. About ½” to a 1” down is fine. This is creating a stopping point when you begin to carve the angle for the whistle hole.

The next step I start for the kids by cutting the angle in for them continue to shave
off a little at a time until you can see the hole you drilled all the little wood bits need to be trimmed or sanded off.

The dowel now needs to be shaved down. The dowel is round you need to make one side flat this is what makes the sound. Then we use the coping saw and cut it shorter.

Pictured here is a bit long for my taste you have to put it in your mouth to check the sound and this was hard being it was so long! My son cut it and I just couldn’t bring myself to correct his hard work!

The fun part is here! Now you slip the dowel inside the hole in your branch , the tip of the dowel should peak out just a little bit from the top part. You can put a little glue on the round side of the dowel as before you slip it in so it will hold while
you’re checking it. Then put it in your mouth and blow! If you get the sound you want your good to go! If it needs tweaking just keep readjusting that dowel until you get the sound you want.

Now I let this sit over night to dry because the cutting off the dowel and sanding can make the dowel unattached and that’s just a bummer!


The next day we used the coping saw and cut off the dowel , sanded the end. Viola you can a lovely branch whistle you can leave it like this and it’s great. Rub a little olive oil on the tip to seal it a bit.

Or if you want the gnome you can carve the bottom of the branch into a point. I usually do a “soft” point because these are for kids. You can shave off a bit off the
front to create a beard face area.


I use watercolor paints to paint the hats , here we just used IKEA paint.

You can drill a small hole at the end to put a cord through it.

The bonus work is to finger knit a cord for the necklace.


Sometimes when I am making one of these for a last minute birthday gift , if I’m going to make this without my children they are sort of miffed to not be making the gift themselves if they simply get to make the chord they are really satisfied in being part of the process.