Turned Bottle Opener...

This isn't a very detailed instructable but a cool gift idea for any of you hose draggers and woodworkers out there.

My F.D. Is going through a change. We grew quickly about 20 years ago and with that goes, many retirements coming in a very short period of time. Having over 20 years myself, I'm watching many of my long time friends and colleges retire. Since I have young kids, my retirement is a bit more off. I wanted to send them off with something personal. Something I made that made them think of the fire department and...well...me too. Since every fireman enjoys a cold one every now and then, I decided to make them a magnetic bottle opener (sticks to the fridge in the garage) that looks like a fire nozzle.

For this one I actually grabbed an old nozzle I had and pretty much copied it on the lathe. I should note, I used exotic hardwood blanks on of these.

For the F.D. Hardware, I had a bunch of old buttons and collar brass our quartermaster was throwing out. When I saw what he was doing, I took the bag away figuring I would one day, find its repurpose.

This one was for my long time Battalion Chief. This guy was like a father to me. I was 21 when I started and didn't know anything. He was a great leader and would actually come help me with remodeling projects at my house. He taught me quite a bit about working with hammer and nails.

For his, I inlayed old collar brass. It was very difficult getting it right. I created a pocket for the brass to rest in. I did so using a hand chisel and a bunch of patience. Then I painted it black to create a contrast. Afterwards, I filled it in with bar top poly, waited for it to harden and then finished it with a standard sealer.

He loved it by the way. Even teared up a bit.

This one was for a long time friend and one of our great engineers. When I was younger, his son (who is now a firefighter with us) was a really neat kid. So much, we named one of our kids after him.

The magnets I bought on Amazon. I used a forstner bit to counter sink it in the bottom.

This one wasn't for a firefighter but for my father-in-law. He's a Sheriff and while I was at it, I made him one for Christmas. His however, looks like a 50 caliber rifle round. I used the attached image to make the bottle opener as I don't have a 50 cal round readily available.

I got these bottle opener kits at my local Rockler woodworking shop.

And apparently...I didn't take a pic of the final project on this one...

Enjoy. If you have a lathe. These are super easy to replicate.