GaryK's design - My results

I am going to make a few of these, too. Thanks Jeff and Gary.

-- Maplewood, MN

You guys better not try to sneak these through airport security. Next thing you nkow, we’ll all have to go through wood detectors.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Interesting Jeff. Your link to my post has the letters “of” after it do the link doesn’t work. Easy to fix though.

Very nice job!

So what conclusions have you drawn concerning the hardness of the variuos woods?

If you are interested I can provide you with a 1:1 template.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Hi Jeff,

These are nice letter openers. I guess you and Gary are starting a trend here. I am not sure what you can do with this many openers but it is a good use of off cuts and gets you some shop time. Nice job. The cocobolo is my personal favorite.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Gary, I would be interested in that template.

-- Maplewood, MN

Here you go to all that are interested in a template. Just print it out.

Here's a 1:1 PDF File

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Jeff nice job they look good. Gary love to have the temp on these. Always looking for ways to use up cut offs.

-- Just believe and God will take care of the rest

Thanks Gary.

-- Maplewood, MN

rikkor – Post your results when you finish.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Thanks Gary, The 1:1 is helpful. I saved your photos and skewed them to size. A template is the way to go though.

Scott, I’m actually down to 1 of the opener’s now. I had some people in mind when starting. I have 6 family members with birthdays between March 2 and April 19. One of them is turning 3 so she didn’t get it as I can see it used on little brother for playing with her Ponies. Not kidding. :) My wife picked the Walnut one and I gave the Cocobolo to my brother as he is the only guy and it seems to look a bit more masculine.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

Jeff – Are you going to make more.

How close were yours to my 1:1? Kinda curious.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

They started out being very close in size. The template was almost the same as 1:1. After sanding the contours, ithey ended up slighty smaller. I had my wife hold them so as to make them comfortable for her grip. I did several using my grip as well since my hand are a decent bit larger.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

UPDATE: I thought I should add a little comment after putting one of the designs to personal use. I gave away all but one. I kept a cocobolo one that is not pictured. I found that they were all a little to thick to work properly. I’d suggest not making them any thicker than 1/4”. I haven’t tested a smaller thickness, but I think I’d aim for the 1/8” mark as a starter. The edge held very nicely, but the thickness made for a steep angle that impeded the cut. Otherwise, they worked nicely.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

The handle on mine is 1/8” but the blade is thinner.

Closer to .093

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

good job …
Nice looking Letter openers ….

See Gary has created a monster!

-- Mike in Bonney Lake " If you are real real real good your whole life, You 'll be buried in a curly maple coffin when you die."