Many years ago my cricket club had a award for "most bowled" for the season, it was a bat that I cut a big hole in with a hole saw and then scorched the edges with a propane torch.

It really did come up a treat and I see no reason why the same wouldn't work on any wooden object provided you go at it slowly and keep a damp rag handy.

A couple of my mates have done the same with signs.

The obvious rider here is that in each instance the wood was quite thick so in your case I'd go to the green shed and get some cheap ply about 4mm thick and perfect the skill first