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  1. 13th June 2006, 11:24 PM #1
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    labolle
    labolle is offline Senior Member
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    Cool Teak cup-dispenser

    A friend of mine gave me some off-cuts he was going to throw away from some teak boards had made something out of. The off cuts were about 30 cm wide across the grain, by about 15cm with the grain. I held on to them for a few months thinking about what to do with them. All I could think of was a box for candles that I had seen in a book once. Then eventually I decided to make a cup dispenser from them.

    I decided to get away from dovetails for a change and go with a straight miter along the edges. I did that and was happy with the result, but then I kept thinking that if I hung it on the wall, then the miters were bound to fail from the weight of it or the force of people pulling on it to get cups out. So I used a suggestion that I came across, somewhere in this forum, I think, of using chopsticks as pins to reinforce the miters.

    I set my table saw at a 45 degree miter with the blade fully extended and cut a deep V notch in a piece of scrap 4-by-4 I had around. I then used that as a cradle to support the box on edge as I drilled holes on a diagonal through the corners that were the same diameter as my chopsticks (6mm) with a drill press. Then with generous amounts of glue and a some persuasion from a mallet I stuck the chopsticks through the holes, cut them off with my backsaw, let the glue set, then sanded them flush on my belt sander, finished with a palm sander going on up to 400 grit, sprayed several coats of lacquer, sanded at 600 grit every third coat, and here it is.

    Oh yea, to dispense the cups one at a time I used a trick I saw a little mom-and-pop store up in mountains one time. I took a 1 liter cola bottle cut off the bottom, then cut the neck off at a point where it is just slightly smaller than the rim of the cups, put a few slits around the edges, hung it upside down and, viola, cups one at a time. Before I assembled the four sides of the box, I attached the bottle cup-dispenser to one of them with staples.

    Scrap wood can be fun.

    Attachment 24923Attachment 24924Attachment 24925
    “When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think...that a time is to come when those (heirlooms) will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’ “ --John Ruskin. Audels Carpenters and Builders Guide, 1923 Theo Audel & CO. New York.
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  3. 14th June 2006, 12:33 AM #2
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    Ingenious! Beautiful result, and very functional. Does the grain pattern wrap around all the corners?

    I can't quite imagine how you drilled a hole into a 45° inclinded surface though -- wouldn't the drill-bit bend to one side, and produce lots of tearout?
    Those are my principles, and if you don't like them . . . well, I have others.
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  4. 14th June 2006, 02:39 AM #3
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    labolle
    labolle is offline Senior Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by zenwood
    Ingenious! Beautiful result, and very functional. Does the grain pattern wrap around all the corners?

    I can't quite imagine how you drilled a hole into a 45° inclinded surface though -- wouldn't the drill-bit bend to one side, and produce lots of tearout?
    Thank you.

    It would be nice if the grain were matched to follow around the box, but since the scraps that make up the sides each came off the end of a different board, that was not an option. Though the end result is not too hard on the eyes.

    As far as drilling and tearout goes, I was surprised at how well it went. Like I said earlier, I had made a simple cradle to hold the box on the diagonal and drilled through the inclined surface. Prior to drilling I used a my Veritas marking gauge that I usually use to scribe the thickness for my dovetails, to scribe a light line a set distance back from the edge of the board, then used an awl to mark good pilot holes every three cm. I used a brad point bit and went v-e-r-y slowly through it. I had very little chipping or tearout. I suppose that it would not be hard to clamp a backing board to the backside as I drill next time. Luckily for me, the teak seems to be very forgiving as far as not-chipping goes.
    “When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think...that a time is to come when those (heirlooms) will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’ “ --John Ruskin. Audels Carpenters and Builders Guide, 1923 Theo Audel & CO. New York.
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  5. 14th June 2006, 10:16 AM #4
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    Lovely work and even better as everyone hopefully will admire it when they use it. Well done!

    Cheers
    Wendy
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  6. 14th June 2006, 02:41 PM #5
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    Very clever design & a good result. Have a greenie.
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  7. 14th June 2006, 03:53 PM #6
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    Great work, the pins add a pleasing contrast to the box.Great idea with the plastic bottle.There will be too many drink breaks now just to admire your box.
    Cheers Wardy
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