Wine bottle holders

[martzy]

I made these over the weekend. I cheated a little bit and made the hole with a fostner bit. It make a much better circle than I do. I did scroll the curve on the top though. I thought about adding some scrolled work on the body but wanted the wood to speak for itself.

Thanks for looking.

[Bill Wilson]

It's amazing how those stand up. That would make for a cool display at your next craft show.

What kind of woods did you use?

[wood-n-things]

Nicely done....

[martzy]

The light colored ones are maple with either cherry or oak accents. The other one is oak with black walnut accents.

I made up some plain ones too but they are not finished yet. I am hoping to add them to my craft show inventory but I don't know how well they will sell. I showed them to some coworkers but most of them don't drink wine so they were no help but they all liked the idea and thought they look pretty cool. Most people said to sell them for less then $20 which is not exactly what price I wanted. I wanted a higher price than that. I'll just have to test the market and see what price I can command.

[wood-n-things]

Take some to a few local wineries and sell em at wholesale for 24.95 telling the winery to ask $39.95. The more elaborate you make some of them the better they will sell. Remember some folks will like the more simple looking ones with just the hardwood accents on them. Offer to personalize them for $20.00 for the wineries with a non-refundable 50% deposit.

[Okie]

What angle do you cut the bottom at?

[handibunny]

Keith,

First of all, using a Forstner bit is NOT cheating--it is using good sense. I use them all the time.

Second, for a higher price point with very little extra work, glue in some colorful wood strips in a simple symmetrical pattern, a slightly more elaborate version of what you're already doing. People love the colors, and it's a great way to use up scraps. That's what got me to buy a collapsible basket before I started using the scroll saw--I was intrigued by all the different woods, and had no idea that it was mostly a way to clear out scraps.

[martzy]

Unfortunately, all I have is red oak, maple, black walnut, and poplar to work with. I would love to have some of those exotic woods that people work with but it's not possible right now. There is a cabinet workshop not far from me but they grind up all their scraps and press them into a brick to sell as a fuel for woodburners. Very environmentally friendly of them. Very sad for me. Our local sawmils don't deal in exotics either.

[martzy]

Maybe I'll try some zig-zags or something with the woods I have available.

[handibunny]

Keith, if you can't get colorful wood locally, try getting it from a reliable online source, like Ocooch Hardwoods (thin wood) or Constantine's (veneer).

For thin wood, if you get one or two 2' pieces, 8" or so wide and 1/4" thick, of bloodwood, padauk, or purpleheart, and glue it in with the wood you have on hand, you'll get a lot of value for the money. The thin stripess will set off the other wood very nicely and you'll get a very decorative effect for not much work and a little glue.

Likewise for the veneer, the dyed through stuff adds a real blast of color, and goes very far. I made major use of it in the box book, and still have not used up the original two pieces I bought in 2010. I used red and black, and found them really good choices.

Anyway, the sites are fun to look at and "window shop".

[martzy]

Thanks Carole. I'll take a look. I really like the woods I have but it would be fun to work with some different colors and grains.