Bottle Balancers

I make mine at 45 degrees

-- www.carvingandturningsbyrick.com, Rick Kruse, Grand Rapids, MI

I also make mine at 45 degrees. On my site I show an example of a set I made a while back. I made about a dozen a couple years ago for presents.

-- DonFaulk0517@gmail.com

I guess the hole is at a 45 as well. I don’t drink wine but think they would make a great gift. What size is the hole? It’s cheaper to ask then to go buy a bottle of wine!

I made a few of these, the hole is 1 1/4” about 7” from the bottom, I used a 45 degree cut at the bottom, another jock experimented and felt 36 degree worked well for his, the board is about 10 1/2” long and 3 1/2” wide. A lot of the balance is based on placement of the neck of the bottle.

-- Ron Central, CA

I just made a bunch with a 40 degree angle 9” long with the hole @ 6 1/2” from the bottom. The width didnt seem to matter. I made a couple out of plywood first to get the balance right. The hole doesn’t have to be on an angle. It was tough not to just drink the wine instead but I finished the holders first.

-- Thank God for Charlie Mopp's !!!!

After reading the above comments, the wife said that it would be 15 minutes before supper was ready so out to the shop and back in 15 minutes with my first bottle balancer made from 3/4” falloff pine with a straight 1 1/4 hole and 40 degree miter. After the meal I went back out and made another one out of 1 1/2” salvaged redwood and this time made the 1 1/4” hole at a 30 degree angle and the miter was again 40 degrees. The bottle sets very horizontal and is much more solid on the redwood one. The later did take almost 30 minutes to make though, including the first coat of varathane. I love this site!

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

Yes, and the wife is pleased with the redwood one.

-- -Willing to try

Sweety, do you know where the pine one is?

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

Mine were made at 31.5 degrees Don’t ask me why other than that my miter saw has a preset at that angle I think that the distance from the hole to the bottom is one of the keys. 1&1/4 hole straight thru. and be careful about the amount of weight above the hole or it won’t balance.

-- RTB. stray animals are just looking for love

Actually the hole is a straight 90 degree hole, the only miter is at the base

-- www.carvingandturningsbyrick.com, Rick Kruse, Grand Rapids, MI

Question: When you guys say that the hole is 7” from the bottom, does that mean the hole at center? I started to make some and realized this would matter!

-- Patrick

i have made a snowman version of the bottle balancers and i know its a bit late now but i just cut a 45 and got luck the first time. didn’t need to ajust at all.
my hole is 100mm from the bottom 35mm wide and 12mm from the top
made from 22mm thick pine

-- BRODY. NSW AUSTRALIA -arguments with turnings are rarely productive-

Send me your email address and I will send you plans for one. Last time I sent it out it bounced back as a bad email address.

-- Those that say it can't be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

The holes in mine are 7” from the bottom to the center of the hole.

-- Ron Central, CA

Went online and there are as many different designs and measurements as there are woodworkers for these niffy boards. I cut my hole at1 1/4” at 30 degrees 7 ” from the bottom and the bottom is cut at 40 degrees. I think the size hole is dependent of the bottle and how you want the cant of the bottle to rest, Mine are even with the table it sits on for 750 ml bottles, (a fifth). Later this year I will experiment with some other designs and see if I can come up with a different style than I have seen so far. ...its time to work the wood.

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings