All worksheets / Woodwork
Edition 2026Active Merit Badge
Woodwork
Official Requirements & Fillable Workbook · 2026 Edition
Woodwork is about designing, measuring, cutting, and assembling useful furniture and structures from raw lumber. You will learn grain properties, fastener types, and how to sharpen hand planes and chisels. Requirements 4 through 6 require drafting working drawings and building two complete woodworking projects using proper joinery.
Key Requirements Covered:
- Woodworking Shop Safety & Tool Maintenance
- Wood Species, Board Feet & Material Selection
- Precision Joinery: Lap, Mortise & Tenon Joints
- Building, Sanding & Finishing a Functional Project
4Printable Pages
7Requirements
2021Reqs Revised
What is on the worksheet: Woodwork Requirements
Every requirement for the Woodwork merit badge, word for word as published, with room to write under each one on the printed worksheet.
1Hazards, First Aid, and Totin' Chip
Do the following:
- a Explain to your counselor the most likely hazards you may encounter while participating in woodwork activities, and what you should do to anticipate, help prevent, mitigate, and respond to these hazards. Explain what precautions you should take to safely use your tools.
- b Show that you know first aid for injuries that could occur while woodworking, including splinters, scratches, cuts, severe bleeding, and shock. Tell what precautions must be taken to help prevent loss of eyesight or hearing, and explain why and when it is necessary to use a dust mask.
- c Earn the Totin' Chip recognition.
2Timber, Milling, and Kinds of Wood
Do the following:
- a Describe how timber is grown, harvested, and milled. Tell how lumber is cured, seasoned, graded, and sized.
- b Collect and label blocks of six kinds of wood useful in woodworking. Describe the chief qualities of each. Give the best uses of each.
3Tool Care and Sharpening
Do the following:
- a Show the proper care, use, and storage of all working tools and equipment that you own or use at home or school.
- b Sharpen correctly the cutting edges of two different tools.
4Make Something Useful of Wood
Using a saw, plane, hammer, brace, and bit, make something useful of wood. Cut parts from lumber that you have squared and measured from working drawings.
5Create your own woodworking project
Create your own woodworking project. Begin by making working drawings, list the materials you will need to complete your project, and then build your project. Keep track of the time you spend and the cost of the materials.
6Drawings and a Finished Project
Do TWO of the following:
- a Make working drawings of a project needing beveled or rounded edges and build it.
- b Make working drawings of a project needing curved or incised cuttings and build it.
- c Make working drawings of a project needing miter, dowel, or mortise and tenon joints and build it.
- d Make a cabinet, box, or something else with a door or lid fastened with inset hinges.
- e Help make wooden toys for underprivileged children OR help carry out a woodworking service project approved by your counselor for a charitable organization.
7Careers
Talk with a cabinetmaker or finish carpenter. Learn about training, apprenticeships, career opportunities, work conditions, work hours, pay rates, and union organization that woodworking experts have in your area.
Two dates, two different things
Requirements Revision vs. Worksheet Date
Scouting America last revised the Woodwork requirements in 2021. That is the badge, not this sheet — an older year does not mean the worksheet is out of date.
Verbatim Fidelity & Verification
This worksheet was checked against https://www.scouting.org/merit-badges/woodwork/ in Aug 2026 and reproduces the requirements word for word. Both dates are printed on the sheet, so a copy in a binder can always be placed in time.
Requirement text is © Scouting America, reproduced verbatim. The worksheet layout and design are original to this project.
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Key Requirements Covered:
- Fire Behavior: Fuels, Weather & Topography
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Key Requirements Covered:
- Woodcarving Safety, Knives & Sharpening
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