Coaster Bottle Opener

With Spring here many people are enjoying the the warmer weather, spending more time outside enjoying a cold one on the patio with friends. A common conundrum when entertaining friends is keeping the bottle opener from wandering away; unless you have the bottle opener chained up it's bound to get lost at a social.

Never be far from an opener to crack your next beer, all while keeping water rings off your tables. This bottle opener is cleverly placed under your drink coaster, making a few ensures that every guest has their own opener.

This easy woodworking project requires a biscuit cutter to make, but you might be able to make do with other tools. These coasters can be personalized, and they are infititly useful

A biscuit cutter is used to cut a small slot into wood. Typically they are used to cut slots which allow a biscuit (a small thin piece of wood) to be inserted which joins two pieces together. For this application, we'll be using the biscuit cutter to remove a small section of wood from the bottom of our coaster by making a series of cuts on top of each other, creating a cavity.

before cutting the depth needs to be set on the biscuit cutter. You'll want to make a cut that's deeper than about half the diameter of a bottle cap. Most bottle caps are about 1" in diameter, so your cut will need to be a little larger than 0.5" deep. Once the depth gauge is set on the biscuit cutter we can start cutting.

Clamp a coaster blank to a sturdy work surface with the midpoint mark accessible. Lining up the midpoint mark with the centre guide of the biscuit cutter, plunge into the wood. Leaving the biscuit cutter flush against your work surface, shim the coaster blank with a thin piece of wood and clamp down again. By raising the coaster blank and repeating the biscuit cut you'll have made another cut right on top your previous cut, enlarging the opening. Repeating this process with larger shims will allow you to make a uniform cavity in the coaster blank.

Using a sharp utility knife clean up any burrs in cavity. Then use a medium grit sandpaper (~200 grit) to make a smooth surface.

Screws come in a wide variety, for this opener we'll need a screw that has a flat underside. Tapered screw heads will not grip the bottle cap and are not suitable.

I used 1/2" dome flat-headed screws, but any screw with a flat underside will work.

You could get away with just using one screw, but by using two you get a better connection with the bottle cap and there's less positioning when trying to open a bottle. Using a drill, two small pilot holes were drilled and the two screws were installed near the apex of the curved cavity. Ensure not to screw too far into coaster, else your screws will protrude out the top of the coaster.

You could leave the tops of your coasters blank, but not embellishing this space seems like a waste

To personalize these bottle opener coasters I decided to etch the top. You could do wood burning, decoupage, or paint. I have access to a laser cutter so I decided to use it to etch an image onto mine - a simple beer bottle and can with a note letting you know there's a bottle opener hidden underneath.

Before you can use your coasters you'll want to finish them with a sealant so they don't get damaged with use from wet bottle condensation. I finished my coasters with Danish oil, a tough water-resistant finish that can be applied with a rag.I love the easy application and rich colour it gives wood.

Once the finish has dried your coasters are good to go! Make a few and have them around at parties, and personalize them to suit your style.

Cheers!

Happy making :)