When giving away coasters I made, they were usually just tied into
a set with ribbon or burlap twine. However, for more special
occasions or people, I also made a custom coaster holder that
entailed a bit of tedious work.
The holder was a "V-shaped" tray tilted at a 30 degree angle, made
of walnut and doweled together. The tedious part was doweling the
necessarily thin walnut pieces.
To begin, the walnut was ripped and planed to 1/4" thickness and
sanded. The V was made of 1-1/2" and 1-1/4" widths, cut to the
length of 6 or 8 coasters. The butted joint was glued with
Tightbond and after it was dry, reinforced with (4) 1/8" dowels.
The front of the V was supported by a 3/8" dowel turned from
walnut (or purchased) blind inserted into a pocket in the bottom
of the V to elevate and support it. The front and rear openings
were closed with more walnut pieces. The front's piece was an
oversized V to match the shape of the sides, but with rebated
corners. Once glued in place and set, it was reinforced with (2)
1/8" dowels per side plus another at the bottom of the V running
back to reinforce the 3/8" dowel in the pocket behind. (See below
for how the doweling was done)
The rear piece was slightly taller than the front and the upper
part was of a similar rebated shape. It was taller to support the
back of the coasters, being tipped backward. Behind was a
wedge-shaped brace in its center to further prevent it from
tipping, along with a 4" wide square cut bottom to prevent
side-to-side tipping. All joints were first glued, then doweled
and sanded.
For drilling a 1/8" hole in 1/4" edge material, a typical drill
and bit would not work. The slow speed of the drill would permit
the bit to catch on grain and not make a hole where desired OR to
drift off as it got deeper. I had two solutions and both worked
well. The first was to use an air powered right angle drill
cobbled together from an angle grinder and a Jacob's chuck. The
other was to use a Dremel mototool with an 1/8" collet to hold the
bit. In both instances, I tried using both a typical twist bit
and an augur-type bit. The lead point on the augur-type bit
helped some, but the titanium coated twist bit lasted much longer.
The faster the drill bit turned, the more accurate the holes were.
--
Nonny
You cannot make a stupid kid smart by
handing him a diploma. Schools need standards
to measure the amount of education actually
absorbed by children. Don't sacrifice the smart
kids to make the dumb ones feel good about themselves.
"Nonny" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> When giving away coasters I made, they were usually just tied
> into a set with ribbon or burlap twine. However, for more
> special occasions or people, I also made a custom coaster holder
> that entailed a bit of tedious work.
>
> The holder was a "V-shaped" tray tilted at a 30 degree angle,
> made of walnut and doweled together. The tedious part was
> doweling the necessarily thin walnut pieces.
>
> To begin, the walnut was ripped and planed to 1/4" thickness and
> sanded. The V was made of 1-1/2" and 1-1/4" widths, cut to the
> length of 6 or 8 coasters. The butted joint was glued with
> Tightbond and after it was dry, reinforced with (4) 1/8" dowels.
> The front of the V was supported by a 3/8" dowel turned from
> walnut (or purchased) blind inserted into a pocket in the bottom
> of the V to elevate and support it. The front and rear openings
> were closed with more walnut pieces. The front's piece was an
> oversized V to match the shape of the sides, but with rebated
> corners. Once glued in place and set, it was reinforced with
> (2) 1/8" dowels per side plus another at the bottom of the V
> running back to reinforce the 3/8" dowel in the pocket behind.
> (See below for how the doweling was done)
>
> The rear piece was slightly taller than the front and the upper
> part was of a similar rebated shape. It was taller to support
> the back of the coasters, being tipped backward. Behind was a
> wedge-shaped brace in its center to further prevent it from
> tipping, along with a 4" wide square cut bottom to prevent
> side-to-side tipping. All joints were first glued, then doweled
> and sanded.
>
> For drilling a 1/8" hole in 1/4" edge material, a typical drill
> and bit would not work. The slow speed of the drill would
> permit the bit to catch on grain and not make a hole where
> desired OR to drift off as it got deeper. I had two solutions
> and both worked well. The first was to use an air powered right
> angle drill cobbled together from an angle grinder and a Jacob's
> chuck. The other was to use a Dremel mototool with an 1/8"
> collet to hold the bit. In both instances, I tried using both a
> typical twist bit and an augur-type bit. The lead point on the
> augur-type bit helped some, but the titanium coated twist bit
> lasted much longer. The faster the drill bit turned, the more
> accurate the holes were.
>
Photo of coaster and holder posted to the binaries group.
--
Nonny
You cannot make a stupid kid smart by
handing him a diploma. Schools need standards
to measure the amount of education actually
absorbed by children. Don't sacrifice the smart
kids to make the dumb ones feel good about themselves.