Chili Cook Off Trophy - "The Ladle of Glory

I built this trophy for a church group that was having a Halloween party for the kids and a Chili Cook Off for the adults. I was approached and asked if I would be willing to make a trophy for the prize. Well I love to build one of a kind things so I immediately accepted (with visions of a redneck trophy). When I asked what the budget for this project was, they laughed and said that there is no budget….thats $0. Well after some thought, I started off with an old 4×4 that is used for a block behind the tires when working on the car. After drawing out the design on the wood I took it over to the bandsaw. After about an inch of cutting the blade broke!!! Oh snap! Budget build with a deadline. so the rough rough cuts had to be made with the chop saw and hand saw. The rest was formed with my trusty ole Dremel. The base was made from some left over crown moulding, the top platform and mounting cup from a scrap piece of pine from another project and the placard was made from an empty can of spray paint, cut out and engraved with….the Dremel…. Gotta love that tool, just need a high speed engraver now…. After a few hours of sanding it put a few coats of Polyshades that was left from another project. Didn’t like the color so I sanded it down a bit to let some grain show thru and then put 3 coats of clear lacquer and called it a day. Luckily I came in just under budget and everyone loved it.

Not sure why the pictures all rotated…oh well. Thats me with the completed trophy.