Wooden Halloween coffin with lights and decorations

Do it yourself

How to Build a Wooden Coffin for Halloween

Build this coffin to spook up your front yard this Halloween. No expert skills needed: in fact, bad workmanship will make this wooden coffin even creepier!

Difficulty level: Easy

Duration: 3 hours

Download the plan

Before You Start

Don’t have a mitre saw or circular saw? Use a good old handsaw. It will take a bit longer but will get the job done.

For this project, select mismatched planks only (crooked, scratched, or stained ones, or ones with large knots). It’s a Halloween decoration, not living room furniture! The uglier the better.

Material

1x4x4 (or 8) Pressure-Treated Wood 1x6x4 (or 8) Pressure-Treated Wood 2x2x8 Pressure-Treated Wood 1/2" or 5/8" Plywood Decorative Gate Hinges Screws LED Lights

Tools

Mitre Saw Circular Saw (or Table Saw)Orbital Sander Drill Scraper (or Wire Brush)

Person cutting plywood with a circular saw

Cut the Base

1.1 - Using the plan , trace the coffin’s shape onto the plywood sheet.
1.2 - Using the circular saw, cut along the lines.

Attach the Lid Planks

2.1 - Lay out six 1” x 4″ x 6’ planks side-by-side.
2.2 - Place three or four 1” x 6” x 4’ planks perpendicular to the first six planks. There’s no need to straighten them out.
2.3 - Secure the planks together using 1” pan head screws.

Cut the Lid

3.1 - Place the plywood coffin base on top of the planks assembled in the previous step. Using a marker, trace the same shape.
3.2 - Using the circular saw, cut along the lines to create the coffin lid.

Damage Your Project

4.1 - Damage all the planks using a wood chisel, wire brush, scraper with a pointed tip, sledgehammer, etc. If you’ve had a tough week, now’s the time to let it all out!

Person assembling a wooden Halloween coffin

Cut and Secure the Side Planks

5.1 - Cut the 2” x 2” planks to create ten lengths of 10”. Secure these vertical supports to the plywood base using 2 ½” screws (from beneath, where all edges intersect).
5.2 - Cut all the 1” x 6” planks that make up the sides. Secure the planks (two planks high) on the vertical 2” x 2” planks. Be sure to leave an irregular space between the planks to let the light through.