I recently bought an air freshener for my car at the drug store counter. It clipped onto the vent on the dash. I lasted about 3 minutes before I threw it out…the scent was so strong and sickening I couldn’t stand it. It seemed like a good idea at the time!
Then I saw an Ad online that showed some air fresheners made of a simple chunk of wood with a clip attached. You were supposed to add drops of your own preferred essential or fragrance oil. At least I could choose the scent!
I found some samples online by just typing in “wood air freshener for the car.” There were interesting shapes like flowers with a clip on the back, or slices of a tree branch meant to hang on the mirror.
I wasn’t sure the oils would soak in properly and then provide a nice smell in the car without being overpowering.
With Bert’s help, and a bag full of wood scraps that he uses for all kinds of little projects, we gave it a try.
First, I ordered the clips from Amazon…they were called “Square Head Car Air Vent Clips.” A bag of 20 clips were $6.99.
They were a very tight clip. Next challenge…finding some chunks of wood. Bert came in with some round, fairly flat, disks to see if they might work. The groove around the center could capture the oil until it soaked in.
He experimented with how to attach the clip to the back. Plain glue would not work because of the kind of stress it would be under to pull it from the vent. He found a way to put a screw on each side of the base, with the edge of the screw overlapping the base. It worked great for now. He had some other ideas for the next batch.
Now that the base was secured, I needed to add drops of scented oil…I chose Lavender fragrance oil…mostly because I had a big bottle of it, and I could stand the scent.
First, I had to figure out a way to keep the whole thing vertical so the oil wouldn’t drip off before it soaked into the wood. I had this small box that held the roller balls in shipping. The clip just fit over the center divider and kept it upright while I added the oil.
Using the dropper, I filled the center ring and let it soak in. I did that several times over the next few days. Then I put it in the car vent. It helped to be driving around with the heated air coming through the vent. The first day it was quite noticeable, but by the second day it was very pleasant. Not sure how long it will last, but when I can’t smell it anymore, I’ll pull it out of the vent, bring it into the house, add more oil and put it back in the car.
Bert did make me five of these so I could switch up the scents. I’ll store them in labeled zip bags so I know which one had which scent. Pretty slick!
Try it yourself! Enjoy!
Please comment or email me directly at marykisner@comcast.net.