When giving away coasters I made, they were usually just tied into
a set with ribbon or burlap twine. However, for more special
occasions or people, I also made a custom coaster holder that
entailed a bit of tedious work.

The holder was a "V-shaped" tray tilted at a 30 degree angle, made
of walnut and doweled together. The tedious part was doweling the
necessarily thin walnut pieces.

To begin, the walnut was ripped and planed to 1/4" thickness and
sanded. The V was made of 1-1/2" and 1-1/4" widths, cut to the
length of 6 or 8 coasters. The butted joint was glued with
Tightbond and after it was dry, reinforced with (4) 1/8" dowels.
The front of the V was supported by a 3/8" dowel turned from
walnut (or purchased) blind inserted into a pocket in the bottom
of the V to elevate and support it. The front and rear openings
were closed with more walnut pieces. The front's piece was an
oversized V to match the shape of the sides, but with rebated
corners. Once glued in place and set, it was reinforced with (2)
1/8" dowels per side plus another at the bottom of the V running
back to reinforce the 3/8" dowel in the pocket behind. (See below
for how the doweling was done)

The rear piece was slightly taller than the front and the upper
part was of a similar rebated shape. It was taller to support the
back of the coasters, being tipped backward. Behind was a
wedge-shaped brace in its center to further prevent it from
tipping, along with a 4" wide square cut bottom to prevent
side-to-side tipping. All joints were first glued, then doweled
and sanded.

For drilling a 1/8" hole in 1/4" edge material, a typical drill
and bit would not work. The slow speed of the drill would permit
the bit to catch on grain and not make a hole where desired OR to
drift off as it got deeper. I had two solutions and both worked
well. The first was to use an air powered right angle drill
cobbled together from an angle grinder and a Jacob's chuck. The
other was to use a Dremel mototool with an 1/8" collet to hold the
bit. In both instances, I tried using both a typical twist bit
and an augur-type bit. The lead point on the augur-type bit
helped some, but the titanium coated twist bit lasted much longer.
The faster the drill bit turned, the more accurate the holes were.

--
Nonny

You cannot make a stupid kid smart by
handing him a diploma. Schools need standards
to measure the amount of education actually
absorbed by children. Don't sacrifice the smart
kids to make the dumb ones feel good about themselves.

"Nonny" wrote in message
...
When giving away coasters I made, they were usually just tied
into a set with ribbon or burlap twine. However, for more
special occasions or people, I also made a custom coaster holder
that entailed a bit of tedious work.

The holder was a "V-shaped" tray tilted at a 30 degree angle,
made of walnut and doweled together. The tedious part was
doweling the necessarily thin walnut pieces.

To begin, the walnut was ripped and planed to 1/4" thickness and
sanded. The V was made of 1-1/2" and 1-1/4" widths, cut to the
length of 6 or 8 coasters. The butted joint was glued with
Tightbond and after it was dry, reinforced with (4) 1/8" dowels.
The front of the V was supported by a 3/8" dowel turned from
walnut (or purchased) blind inserted into a pocket in the bottom
of the V to elevate and support it. The front and rear openings
were closed with more walnut pieces. The front's piece was an
oversized V to match the shape of the sides, but with rebated
corners. Once glued in place and set, it was reinforced with
(2) 1/8" dowels per side plus another at the bottom of the V
running back to reinforce the 3/8" dowel in the pocket behind.
(See below for how the doweling was done)

The rear piece was slightly taller than the front and the upper
part was of a similar rebated shape. It was taller to support
the back of the coasters, being tipped backward. Behind was a
wedge-shaped brace in its center to further prevent it from
tipping, along with a 4" wide square cut bottom to prevent
side-to-side tipping. All joints were first glued, then doweled
and sanded.

For drilling a 1/8" hole in 1/4" edge material, a typical drill
and bit would not work. The slow speed of the drill would
permit the bit to catch on grain and not make a hole where
desired OR to drift off as it got deeper. I had two solutions
and both worked well. The first was to use an air powered right
angle drill cobbled together from an angle grinder and a Jacob's
chuck. The other was to use a Dremel mototool with an 1/8"
collet to hold the bit. In both instances, I tried using both a
typical twist bit and an augur-type bit. The lead point on the
augur-type bit helped some, but the titanium coated twist bit
lasted much longer. The faster the drill bit turned, the more
accurate the holes were.


Photo of coaster and holder posted to the binaries group.

--
Nonny

You cannot make a stupid kid smart by
handing him a diploma. Schools need standards
to measure the amount of education actually
absorbed by children. Don't sacrifice the smart
kids to make the dumb ones feel good about themselves.