[RustyW]

A while back I made a coffee table for my wife. Now she wants coasters. They should be simple, just a small slab of wood to protect the surface below,right? Well I want them to look like little end grain cutting boards. And I also want them recessed instead of just flat. Now I imagine there are lot's of ways to make a shallow, round, recess on a square workpiece. But I think my Template Doak style jig holder is safest and easiest way to get repeated results. This is just the 1st one but I'm so happy with the results so far, I wanted to show it off. Also does anyone have suggestions for a finish? I didn't show how I assembled the blanks since I believe most know how to put together an end grain board.

 

[curiousgeorge]

Great job, Rusty! Since they are for setting damp bottomed glasses and such, I would use about 3 coats of wipe on poly and after the last coat has dried apply a coat of wax using 0000 steel wool. The wax will give them a velvety look and feel and help repel the dampness.

 

[Dr.Zook]

Nice looking Rusty. Can't wait to see the finished coaster.

 

[Noob]

Thanks for the how-to, that's a neat little project. By the way, is that circle jig from the book "Router Magic"?

 

[scrollwolf]

Hi Rusty,
I used the 2-part acrylic resin on mine and then small felt circles to prevent leaving marks.

Jack

 

[RustyW]

Thanks for the how-to, that's a neat little project. By the way, is that circle jig from the book "Router Magic"?

Yes it is Paulo. If I were to do it over,I would drill the center hole to fit a guide. Rather than being screwed to the router.

 

[Noob]

Yes it is Paulo. If I were to do it over,I would drill the center hole to fit a guide. Rather than being screwed to the router.

That's a great idea. Whenever I was looking for a circle jig to make a speaker box for a sub-woofer I found the one in the link below. Instead of using a bearing like he did, I just used the guide bushing inside the hole and it worked great. Circle jig LINK

By combining the two, you can make a smaller circle and spin the router without having to re-adjust your grip.

 

[xplorx4]

I agree, great job. I am looking forward to my next project and to do some similar work. I like the small project because it seems there is less room for error thus making one more careful later on big projects.

 

[harrysin]

An excellent job and photo shoot Rusty BUT, I'm surprised that THE question hasn't been asked, how did you make the coasters themselves?

 

[RustyW]

Harry, I assumed that most members knew how to glue up an end grain cutting board. I glue up different widths of contrasting woods into one long board. Then plane both surfaces of this board to get good gluing surfaces. Now use a crosscut sled to cut this board into narrow strips(this will be the height of the cutting board). Once you have the little multi-colored strips,flip every other one end for end and glue it all together. I usually draw out my wood combination on graph paper first. Then cut and flip the paper to get an idea of what it will look like.

 

[harrysin]

Thanks for the explanation Rusty. I'm sure that I'm not the only member who truly believes that a picture is worth a thousand words. When I present a photo shoot, I aim it at members who find this the easiest way to learn new tricks and assume that members who are more advanced will simply skip past the thread.

 

[GettingWoody]

What kind of router?

I'm new to routers but my first project is going to be some coasters! Did you use a plunging router?

Thanks,
Woody

 

[walowan]

Since this thread is so old I don't think the OP will have a problem of me showing a set of coasters I made out of left ovet solid surface counter material (corian) and cork. I made a template and used a staright bit and plunge router to cutout the corian. I made segemented cork inserts because that's the only size cork I had LOL. These are used outside, after several years in the hot Arizona sun the cork has shrunk a little but they still function great: