monophoto
Member
Wine stoppers are a popular project for wood turners, but another option is to make bottle openers for use with old-fashioned crown-capped bottles. Yes, I know the 'manly' thing is to just twist off the cap, but it's much easier on the hands to use an opener.
I recently made the three openers shown in the image using inexpensive commercial bottle openers as the starting point.
The flat style openers typically come two in a package for under $3 - perhaps even less at 'dollar stores'. There is a can opener on the other end that I cut off with a hacksaw. The challenge is finding a way to securely mount a flat blade in a round turning. I opted to drill a 3/4" hole in the blank, and then turn a scrap of maple to make a short 3/4" dowel. Actually, I left the maple blank square on the ends, and rounded only the center portion, so that it would be easier and safer to cut it down the middle on a table saw. I chose a blade for the table saw that left a kerf about as wide as the thickness of the opener blade. Finally, I used some epoxy to glue the dowel halves to the blade to give it a round cross-section.
After turning and finishing the handle blank, I used some sandpaper to fine tune the round sections on the opener to fit snugly into the hole in the handle. I did find that the openers that I bought were very slightly (like 1/128") wider than my 3/4" drill bit, so I had to grind down the edges just a bit. Finally, glued the opener into the handle using epoxy.
The round opener started out as a commercial opener that I found in an old fashioned 'five and dime' for $4. The handle was about 3/8" wide, but flared slightly, so I had to grind off the fat end. It had a slightly oval cross section that I rounded by gluing some 1/16" strips of stock to the flat sides, and then sanding to a circular cross section that fit snugly in a 3/8" hole in the handle.
The handles were made from English elm, bubinga, and zebrawood. Because the zebrawood blank that I had was only 1" square, I was concerned about it being strong enough with a 3/4" hole, I opted to make a padauk 'ferrule' for the end to dress it up and increase the final diameter a bit.
I don't know if they would sell, but they make nice gifts and were fun to do.
I recently made the three openers shown in the image using inexpensive commercial bottle openers as the starting point.
The flat style openers typically come two in a package for under $3 - perhaps even less at 'dollar stores'. There is a can opener on the other end that I cut off with a hacksaw. The challenge is finding a way to securely mount a flat blade in a round turning. I opted to drill a 3/4" hole in the blank, and then turn a scrap of maple to make a short 3/4" dowel. Actually, I left the maple blank square on the ends, and rounded only the center portion, so that it would be easier and safer to cut it down the middle on a table saw. I chose a blade for the table saw that left a kerf about as wide as the thickness of the opener blade. Finally, I used some epoxy to glue the dowel halves to the blade to give it a round cross-section.
After turning and finishing the handle blank, I used some sandpaper to fine tune the round sections on the opener to fit snugly into the hole in the handle. I did find that the openers that I bought were very slightly (like 1/128") wider than my 3/4" drill bit, so I had to grind down the edges just a bit. Finally, glued the opener into the handle using epoxy.
The round opener started out as a commercial opener that I found in an old fashioned 'five and dime' for $4. The handle was about 3/8" wide, but flared slightly, so I had to grind off the fat end. It had a slightly oval cross section that I rounded by gluing some 1/16" strips of stock to the flat sides, and then sanding to a circular cross section that fit snugly in a 3/8" hole in the handle.
The handles were made from English elm, bubinga, and zebrawood. Because the zebrawood blank that I had was only 1" square, I was concerned about it being strong enough with a 3/4" hole, I opted to make a padauk 'ferrule' for the end to dress it up and increase the final diameter a bit.
I don't know if they would sell, but they make nice gifts and were fun to do.
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