# Why coasters?



## Barry747 (Jun 16, 2011)

I have a lot of scrap. I mean, a lot of scrap. I finally decided it was time to step away from any serious projects and try to get rid of some of it. Problem is, some of what I save is very small. I just can’t throw away wood. I can measure some of it in board inches. I just made that term up but, unfortunately, it’s accurate. So, coasters. Most of them are from scrap but I did have to use some good lumber as part of some of them.

I tried a new holder. Took me a little while to get it right. For the holder I was concerned about gluing the end grain of the vertical piece to the face grain of the bottom so I used my table saw jig for making splines to cut away each corner. The glue up is solid and I think it looks better.

Everything is finished with wipe on poly. After it cured I used 3,600 micromesh to make it baby butt smooth. The bottom of each coaster and the holders are self-adhesive cork.

What am I going to do with them?

Four of them will go to my kids. A few more will go to friends, once I determine which ones are “coaster worthy”. For the remainder, I’m a member of the Florida Westcoast Woodworkers Club. The club supports the Manatee County Food Bank. Each November the food bank has a fund raiser. The turners in the club make soup bowls from wood donated by the lumber yard where we meet. Well, met before the virus hit. Now it’s Zoom meetings. People who buy tickets to the fund raising event get a bowl and a container of soup prepared by local chefs. I’m not a turner so that wasn’t an option for me. However, they also have an auction during the event so I’m contributing the coasters for the auction. At my age, Stick knows that it’s “?” I’m not willing to volunteer for anything out of the house. So, whatever I can make for the food bank will help those with less than I have, and that’s not much. But, it gets rid of those board inch pieces and makes me feel like I’m making a contribution for the greater good at the same time.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Coasters? You mean there are people who actually let go of their can of beer? How amazing.
Get full of coasters, those would make an amazing looking chess board. 
Just goes to prove, there is no such thing as scrap wood, only small pieces of wood waiting for an idea on how to use them.


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## Oscar36 (Feb 23, 2019)

They are super nifty. Great way to use up the ton of board inches of lumber you have. 

Really like the holder design.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Those are very nice . Love how you implemented the different woods


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## Coleve (Oct 31, 2012)

*Very imaginative*

Hi
Loved your take on the coasters. I myself have been coasting along and looking for something to do as we are still in Lockdown in Scotland. I love the comparison of woods you have utilised. It really makes them pop. Like most woodworkers I am always reluctant to throw away cuttings, but they do gather and clutter the workshop. I like the fact that with your project you don’t need large pieces. Well done. You have given me the impetus to have a go. I need quite a few coasters as I drink quite a lot.

Colin.


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## marecat3 (Nov 30, 2010)

they are very pretty


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## woodworker47 (Dec 19, 2008)

Barry,

Like your use of scraps. I get so many cut offs, i.e. scraps that I finally bought an outdoor pit to burn them. Many pieces are walnut. After I get 3-4 tubs, I have to get rid of them. Takes up too much space. Pen turners would love to have some of my walnut cut offs.

Frank


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## sreilly (May 22, 2018)

Barry you did a great job making great use of your scrap. Wish my scrap was as nice. Curious how thick the wood on the coasters is? Your holders look very sturdy and well made. These should certainly make the Food Bank very happy and bring a nice price. 

Thanks for posting this.


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## gmercer_48083 (Jul 18, 2012)

What a beautiful and thoughtful thing you do!


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Recently I went through and collected the scraps and glued them back together to make boards to make stuff out of. They turned out quite nice . I used strips down to 1/16' for accent in colors. It takes a bit of work and a lot of glue, But the results are spectacular.

https://www.routerforums.com/show-n-tell/140627-time-again.html

You do need a thickness planer/jointer and a Drum sander,or power sander, like belt sander. 
HErb


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Those look really nice.

Here's another thought that might give you some inspiration. Crates!

I found some 2x4's in my storage shed from when I built it in 2002 (I think it was, forgot). They were all less than 17 inches in length. I ripped them up and made crates of various sizes. Kept some and gave some to the kids. They still use them.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

How Cool is That?? Mike, fantastic, like the way they stained and stacked together.
Herb


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## Barry747 (Jun 16, 2011)

Frank, you burn your scraps. My only comment is "AAAAAhhhhhhh". :crying:

Steve, the coasters are 1/4" final thickness and about 4" square. The base is 5/8". 

To make the coasters I glue up panals from 17+" (for 4 coaster sets) to 26+ inches (for 6 coaster sets). I try for anywhere from 1 to 2 inches thick depending on what I have to work with. After planing the glued up panals I resaw them using either my table saw or band saw, depending on how lazy I feel that day, to about 5/8" thick then plane them down to 1/4". Then using my table mounted router, I round over all of the edges with a 1/8" roundover bit. I then cut the long boards into 4" pieces and finish rounding over the edges, all end grain, with the router. If any need sanding I use my ROS. I finish with a few coats of wipe on poly and stick cork on the back.

It'a really not a very complicated process and it does use up some of my scrap. Unfortunately, I also have a lot of very small pieces that i can't think of anything do with and I should throw away but I just can't. I still have a small drawer full of rubber faucet washers. I offered them up to a plumber and he laughed and said he threw his out years ago. I still have mine. Now do you understand why I have wood scraps that are a few inches in size?


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

all of the scraps from 2 vanities and a Credenza...
[email protected]', [email protected]' and [email protected]' wide by 24'' deep and 38'' tall...

.


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## Barry747 (Jun 16, 2011)

Stick486 said:


> all of the scraps from 2 vanities and a Credenza...
> [email protected]', [email protected]' and [email protected]' wide by 24'' deep and 38'' tall...
> 
> .


That's the difference between your skill and my scrap pile. My project would just fit into your scrap bucket and my scrap pile would fill your credenza. Nice looking piece BTW.

Herb and Mike, you're much more creative than I am. I may make somemore cutting boards since some of my scrap is about the right size. Still trying to figure out what to do with the rest.


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## ScottyDBQ (Jul 5, 2008)

Barry, Herb and Mike -- the people who get the things you made from scraps will never think of them as scraps. Quite a way to use them up.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

SNORK!!!
and thanks for the vote...


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

I generally boxes out of mine. Ipad and iPhone holders are other possibilities. Trivets, a fancy name for a bigger coaster is another possibility.
Spent some time yesterday sorting through the piles but nothing stirred so they earned a reprieve.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Barry747 said:


> That's the difference between your skill and my scrap pile. My project would just fit into your scrap bucket and my scrap pile would fill your credenza. Nice looking piece BTW.
> 
> Herb and Mike, you're much more creative than I am. I may make somemore cutting boards since some of my scrap is about the right size. Still trying to figure out what to do with the rest.


Barrry, just glue them up and set them aside, a day will come when you will have the ideal project. It will take up less space if they are made into boards and ends trimmed.
Just a suggestion.
Herb


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## MEBCWD (Jan 14, 2012)

I like the holder design also and they look nice with the coasters in them. I'm sure everyone that gets a set will enjoy them. The ones leftover for the food bank will bring in needed donations to help the food bank out.


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## Barry747 (Jun 16, 2011)

Thanks Herb. That's an excellent idea. Actually, sort of a head slap to me. I don't know how many times I've used fresh lumber because none of my scraps were quite the right size and I didn't want to spend the time going through my many scrap piles to make a glue up. This will be a good project for me. It's now summer in Florida. Yesterday, by the end of the day in my garage shop the temperature was 99 degrees. I can only spend an hour or so in the AM before it gets too hot so short projects are perfect for me until October.

Jon, trivets are a very good idea too. I do have a lot of scrap that would work for them and, for the reason I gave above, the heat, they're good short projects and they would go along with the coasters to the food bank.

Thanks guys, any other ideas are welcome.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Barry747 said:


> Thanks Herb. That's an excellent idea. Actually, sort of a head slap to me. I don't know how many times I've used fresh lumber because none of my scraps were quite the right size and I didn't want to spend the time going through my many scrap piles to make a glue up. This will be a good project for me. It's now summer in Florida. Yesterday, by the end of the day in my garage shop the temperature was 99 degrees. I can only spend an hour or so in the AM before it gets too hot so short projects are perfect for me until October.
> 
> Jon, trivets are a very good idea too. I do have a lot of scrap that would work for them and, for the reason I gave above, the heat, they're good short projects and they would go along with the coasters to the food bank.
> 
> Thanks guys, any other ideas are welcome.


put in a wall or window unit...


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Barry747 said:


> Thanks Herb. That's an excellent idea. Actually, sort of a head slap to me. I don't know how many times I've used fresh lumber because none of my scraps were quite the right size and I didn't want to spend the time going through my many scrap piles to make a glue up. This will be a good project for me. It's now summer in Florida. Yesterday, by the end of the day in my garage shop the temperature was 99 degrees. I can only spend an hour or so in the AM before it gets too hot so short projects are perfect for me until October.
> 
> Jon, trivets are a very good idea too. I do have a lot of scrap that would work for them and, for the reason I gave above, the heat, they're good short projects and they would go along with the coasters to the food bank.
> 
> Thanks guys, any other ideas are welcome.


I did have to do some sizing for the glue-ups. The boards that were thinner than 3/4" I ripped them 3/4'+ and turned them so the thin sides gets the glue.
Hot weather is good for glue ups. they set fast,in a couple of hours you can remove the clamps,set aside and make another one.
Herb


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## roxanne562001 (Feb 5, 2012)

Very nice they would make great gifts


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

Stick486 said:


> all of the scraps from 2 vanities and a Credenza...
> [email protected]', [email protected]' and [email protected]' wide by 24'' deep and 38'' tall...
> 
> .



Nice job on those...can you elaborate a bit (no, a lot) on what tools and techniques you used...?

...asking for a friend...


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## Barry747 (Jun 16, 2011)

Stick486 said:


> put in a wall or window unit...


We have a 3 car garage. I use the 1 car side which has a back door. By opening the back door and garage door, and turning on a fan or two, I have 3 of them, it does create a nice breeze, sort of like a convection oven, but I can work in there until it hits 90,

The garage doesn't have any windows and I wouldn't be allowed to put one in. Why you ask? The answer can be found in a copy of our 115 page HOA Homeowners Manual. When we moved in 3 years ago, I looked at the cost of walling off the one car garage and putting in a minisplit. I'd have to hire someone to do the work, at my age I can't do any real carpentry, and the cost would be prohibitive. So, at this time of year, by late morning or early afternoon, I spend a alot of time on the Internet, ogling other people's work, and longing for October.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Nickp said:


> Nice job on those...can you elaborate a bit (no, a lot) on what tools and techniques you used...?
> 
> ...asking for a friend...


tell yur friend *a thread was started up* just for them....


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Barry747 said:


> We have a 3 car garage. I use the 1 car side which has a back door. By opening the back door and garage door, and turning on a fan or two, I have 3 of them, it does create a nice breeze, sort of like a convection oven, but I can work in there until it hits 90,
> 
> The garage doesn't have any windows and I wouldn't be allowed to put one in. Why you ask? The answer can be found in a copy of our 115 page HOA Homeowners Manual. When we moved in 3 years ago, I looked at the cost of walling off the one car garage and putting in a minisplit. I'd have to hire someone to do the work, at my age I can't do any real carpentry, and the cost would be prohibitive. So, at this time of year, by late morning or early afternoon, I spend a alot of time on the Internet, ogling other people's work, and longing for October.


a small window unit sitting on a table or bench would help...
for a wall, cargo blankets hung off of the ceiling shower curtain style will be a benefit....
swamp cooler???


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Barry747 said:


> We have a 3 car garage. I use the 1 car side which has a back door. By opening the back door and garage door, and turning on a fan or two, I have 3 of them, it does create a nice breeze, sort of like a convection oven, but I can work in there until it hits 90,
> 
> The garage doesn't have any windows and I wouldn't be allowed to put one in. Why you ask? The answer can be found in a copy of our 115 page HOA Homeowners Manual.


HOAs. Should be outlawed. Not sure if you could get away with this or not, what with those idiots calling the shots. Your back door, put an inside door in, with a window AC, opening inwards of course. Keep it open. Then you could open the back door, shut the inside door, and be able to run your AC that way. Possibly set the AC in a bit on the door, then make a wooden, what? shutter?, over the outside of the AC. Or, do it in your attic, with a vent, and no AC showing.


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## Oscar36 (Feb 23, 2019)

Window unit only helps if the garage is insulated. Mine is not. I tried and still hot as...hmmm heck.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Barry747 said:


> I don't know how many times I've used fresh lumber because none of my scraps were quite the right size and I didn't want to spend the time going through my many scrap piles to make a glue up.


Right now have a lot of cardboard to get rid of. Don't like to toss something usable, so have started using it for some personal projects (drink carriers; sketch box for going to places I have to wait); now, somehow, going to use some to wind up with a custom fit pair of target pistol grips, I'll be using wood filler (made a pair many years ago, also with wood filler, got it so when I pointed my arm straight out, the sights were dead on. Regretted selling that ever since.). Saves on wood, and easy projects to make in the house, in the evenings, or otherwise stuck in. Made a neat house number sign, about 1" thick, as soon as I figure out just how to waterproof it, will hang it at the end of the drive - later a "real" one will be made of wood and hung out there. Cardboard is working out quite well for prototyping, and is cheap.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Oscar36 said:


> Window unit only helps if the garage is insulated. Mine is not. I tried and still hot as...hmmm heck.


I would say it is time to insulate then. Plant some trees, for shade. Something.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Barry747 said:


> The garage doesn't have any windows and I wouldn't be allowed to put one in. Why you ask? The answer can be found in a copy of our 115 page HOA Homeowners Manual. and


found a way around that...


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Stick486 said:


> found a way around that...


Or the portable version.


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## Barry747 (Jun 16, 2011)

Like the pool ideas. We do have a backyard pool, as many in FL, do. It's more for our grandchildren to play in since it's too small to really swim in but it does feel good in warm weather. Yesterday our floating thermostat read 90 degrees. It was like bath water.

In terms of the other suggestions to make my shop more liveable in the summer, they pretty much cost more than I'm willing to spend being on a fixed income. However, the fans that I have do help and even on the hotest days I can still get an hour or two in the shop. I tend to forget all about the heat when I'm focusing on screwing up the cut and building up my scrap pile. On that note, I'm going to be making some trivits for the Manatee County Food Bank fund raiser next November. I have pleanty of scrap that's the right size for that.

Along those lines, any suggestions on what finish I should use on the trivits assuming someone will put a hot dish or pot on it?


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

@Barry747

Consider an exhaust fan up near the top of a wall that will pull the hot air out of the building.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

another one for the HOA...

.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

JFPNCM said:


> @Barry747
> 
> Consider an exhaust fan up near the top of a wall that will pull the hot air out of the building.


powered roof or gable vent...


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

Stick486 said:


> powered roof or gable vent...


That is what I had in mind, just missed the terminology. Thanks Stick.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

If you pull hot air out where is the cool air coming from to replace it ? Outside?
Herb


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Herb Stoops said:


> If you pull hot air out where is the cool air coming from to replace it ? Outside?
> Herb


pull air in from the outside and shaded side of the building...
you are familiar w/ standing/sitting in the shade vs do that in sun... 
heat rises..
you are removing hottest from the top and creating a cooling breeze at the same time......


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## Barry747 (Jun 16, 2011)

Stick486 said:


> pull air in from the outside and shaded side of the building...
> you are familiar w/ standing/sitting in the shade vs do that in sun...
> heat rises..
> you are removing hottest from the top and creating a cooling breeze at the same time......


This is actually, kind of, sort of, what I'm doing without the roof vent. The one car garage has a back door that is in the shade until early afternoon. Some days there's enough of a breeze through the back door and out the garage door that I don't need any fans. On other days, I have a fan on a stand that I put in the doorway to pull air in and, if I have to, I have a box fan that I put under the garage door to exhaust air out. Does create a nice breeze. Problem is, wth days in the 90's I'm creating a convenction oven. All in all, I get buy. Do drink a lot of water though.


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