Got pretty bored with the standard black tap handles so I undertook a new project to carve some tap handles. I have the luxury of having a DIY woodworking shop in town and got to use a wood lathe. Had a lot of fun doing this.
Raw Materials- did away with the hockey puck idea after splitting 3 or 4 of them
Lathe work- lucky enough to have the shop guy show me a thing or two but surprisingly easy to do
Pre Stain
Post Stain- added a little polyurethane for a finish
Top-less handles- drilling the holes in the top of these was probably the hardest thing about all this, not perfect but it will do
New handle top idea was much more simple and in the end far better. I cut out 4 equal planks of wood, drilled a hole in the bases; rounded out the sharp corners with sand paper and stained them after mounting them on some wood dowels. I then used some magnetic primer on the fronts to allow for switchable labels to be made- I recommend taping off a square to limit the area for the primer and use at least 3 coats of this stuff, even after 4 coats the magnetic force is still a little weak but will do. Covered it all in polyurethane and glued them down to the handles.
Finished product turned out well. The magnetic labels switch out easily. Got all this stuff at a local craft store. I used Adobe Illustrator for my first effort at label design- insanely expensive software but you can sign up for a free trial month (I am going to have to find numerous other uses for the software prior to justifying the expense of buying a copy). Added bonus for the magnetic labels - when not in use the labels can just stick to the front of the keezer.
Let me know what you guys think
Topic: Tap Handle Project (Read 13570 times)
