Making some wooden beads this morning. I cracked several in half before figuring out that they just need to be a little longer than they are wide to be stable.
They're very easy (much easier to get started on that antler or bone beads, imo) and pretty quick. You need a dry stick that has pith at the center (for the hole in the bead), a pocketknife, a needle/awl to poke the pith out, and some sandpaper or a rough rock. Debark the stick, sand the end, saw through the stick using a serrated pocketknife (or, i mean, a saw if you have one). Once it falls off, sand the whole bead and clean the pith. They take me about 5 minutes per bead right now (i made a lot that broke because they weren't long enough, so this is after going through a good hour or two of attempts), and are nice and meditative, if somewhat hard on the hands.
Im not 100% sure what i'll do with this lot once i've made a good handful or if i'll try to dye them or anything. My original idea was to use them to decorate a neolithic tassel on a handspun, handwoven belt. Especially because they clack around very nicely. But these are a bit bigger than i was envisioning for that purpose, so we'll see.
I suspect that you can get more delicate beads by 1) using a thinner stick (but it does still need to have pith in the center, or else you'll have to put in holes yourself) or else 2) spending a lot more time sanding them smaller. Haven't tried either yet, though. You can of course also cut them into different shapes (shaping the wood before sanding or cutting off beads, ideally) or add designs by woodburning or carving them individually.