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For the 2021 Beer Swap I put together a pair of can koozies. I started by asking the group which wood to start with and then I went and did what I wanted anyway. I selected some spalted dogwood with walnut and padauk for accents.


I cut up the dogwood stock into a trapezoid with 30 degree bevels, maybe 1.5 inches wide on the long side, about 16 inches long. I also ripped a thin strip of the 4/4 padauk. I glued up the trapezoids with a padauk spacer into several half circles using the masking-tape trick, then flattened the mating faces and glued up the full circle blanks.


After drying for several days, I chucked the blanks in the lathe and roughed out the cylinder. I added a tenon to one end of each and made a matching mortise groove in the walnut end caps which I had already drilled out.


After gluing one end cap on, I flipped the blank and repeated for the other end so that I had a hollow cylindrical turning blank with holes on either end.








You can see how I chucked the inner diameter rather than the outer by this point in the process. I got the outside to a shape I liked and sanded it for finish. I did epoxy fill a few cracks as well. Then I used a china pencil on the bottom of a can to show me the high spots while I was turning out the inside. Its by no mean very flat or smooth, but it is relatively tight and can hold some full cans upside-down. I was surprised at how much difference I found in can diameter, so this usually won't work.

After I got the inside close, I sanded as far as my fingers could reach and figured my recipient couldn't reach any further either, and then I slapped on a couple coats of Minwax Tung oil.

Cheers to Kenny and crew for another fun swap. Any ideas for the 2022 beer swap item?

-JD

Gallery

Comments

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JD great work on the multi species Koozies. Nice job.
 

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That is quite a process and they turned out great. I haven't seen spalted dogwood before.
 

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That spalted dogwood is phenomenal! Great job of showing us how you created these beautiful coozies!

Mike
 

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This is amazing. I really like the wood and thanks for showing the process. I have to try this.
 

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Nice write up and pics on your beer koozies. The wood choices are wonderful.
 

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Awesome work JD. I like these koozies a lot very unique and very well executed. Thanks for joining again!
 

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real nice coozies jd gotta put those on the long to do list,might push it closer to the top though.
 

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Very cool, JD! Pretty wood, and a methodical approach.
 

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Sweet - and a good tutorial on how to make one. I thought about it but my turning skills are a bit weak. Maybe I'll give it a shot.
 

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That is a really interesting way to make a koozie. They look much nicer than the one I made for the first beer swap.
 

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Nice koozies JD, that dogwood looks stunning
 

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Thanks all,
That dogwood came from a bug-eaten tree I took down for my in-laws. I had to cut it into lengths I could fit in an oven to kill off any remaining bugs so I tend to use it on smaller projects, lots of turnings.
Jeff, the wax pencil on the can definitely made it much easier to get a good fit. Previous attempts have proven…frustrating without it.
Dave, I'm not sure how methodical it was. On most projects I usually start in a general direction, stop about half-way, take a good look around to see where I have gotten to, and then come up with a plan.
Bill, I'm mostly a carbide turner, still struggling to keep my steel tools sharp enough. The insides of these were definitely pushing the limits of my setup but you can do it.
-JD
 

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I somehow missed this. These are some cool koozies. I've made many many and people just seem to love them. I'm going to add this design to my list.
 
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