What If You Made a Beer Mug From Recycled Coasters

When I first approached with this idea it seemed like it would be a simple project. That should have been a warning sign right there, but my brain just thought, "Make a functional pint glass from discarded beer coasters? I wonder why no one has ever done anything like that before." I now know the answer to that rather naive question.
33 coasters and 5 pieces of scrap cherry

The first trick was actually sourcing the material. Since the spirit of the 'glass' is a recycle project, buying new paper coasters was out the question. So I did what any logical person would do. I sent out several emails to bars that no one responded to. So, then I just started walking into places and asking for their coasters!

Getting all this glue on is under 5 minutes was quite tricky! "Wait. You want to take our customers used coasters and make them into a glass?" "Yeah, pretty much." "I'm sorry, we're not interested." "Uh, why not?" "Please leave now..."

At this point, I wasn't sure this was a good idea I was just on the verge of bringing a baggy pair of pants to happy hour, when I received an email from the first place I had emailed. Turns out they did get it! They didn't have many for me, but at that point I was just thankful to have any. So I got to work!

Not quite my original vision! I'm very pleased with how it turned out (that it turned out at all) and I learned a lot. If I had to do it again, I would just use a hole saw, or scroll saw to cut through the paper coaster rather than turn them on the lathe! Regardless, the outcome is quite a conversation piece!

The glass was completed in August 2014. It's epoxy finish has completely cured and totally 'safe' to drink from