# Wine Cork Display Tutorials



## FaTToaD (Oct 19, 2009)

*Intro*



To my amazement there has been a lot of inquiries into how I make my wine cork displays. These questions inspired me to create a series of blog/tutorials to help explain my process. They will probably go into far more detail than most of you "master woodworkers" care to see, but I'm hoping it will help those new to woodworking. I remember how valuable some of the more detailed tutorials where to me when I first started, and still are for that matter.

The design is one of my own. It's very simple, basically the same as the boxes I make but with glass and a hole in the top. There is nothing complicated about them and they make great gifts. They don't have to store just wine corks either. Some of the people I have made them for store beer caps, marbles, and coins in them.

Please feel free to copy my design. I'm sure there are several ways to improve upon it and I've love to see or hear about any of them. Some of the ideas I've played around with include: rectangle instead of square, box joints instead of miters, and making the glass removable instead of the back.

I use a basic set of tools as follows:

Tablesaw
Miter Saw
Router
Drill
Miter Key Jig

The techniques used are simple. I've only been at this for a year, so most new woodworker should able to follow along. If you have an questions, feel free to contact me. As always, any comments or feedback is welcome. I hope you enjoy the tutorials!

David


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## CaptainSkully (Aug 28, 2008)

FaTToaD said:


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Excellent! This is a great Holiday gift idea. Thanks for taking the time to share your process and experience. The glass vs. plastic tip is great.


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## Diggerjacks (Oct 22, 2009)

FaTToaD said:


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Hello David

Yeah a good blog

We have a commun passion : wine corks !!!!!!

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/39642

Today in France it's the " beaujolais nouveau "day : a traditionnal day around wine ( and a lot of wine cork!!!!)

Thanks for your blog and your beautiful idea


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## andy_P (Aug 13, 2009)

FaTToaD said:


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David,

Don't know if you are still following your post, but I am another wine cork guy. I like to make bullitin boards and trivets with them. Here is a display of some of the stuff I've done. Looks simple but lots of steps. I like your design and may make that one of my upcoming projects.


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## dkd (Oct 20, 2011)

FaTToaD said:


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This is so pretty. But too hard for me! do you sell these?


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## PPR (May 10, 2013)

FaTToaD said:


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Hi-- any chance you would make these wine cork boxes to order? The size would be a little different than yours…..


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## FaTToaD (Oct 19, 2009)

*Cutting and Measuring*

In this tutorial I'll be making three redwood wine box displays. Two will be 12" x 12" x 3", the other will be 10" x 10" x 2 1/4". These are the two most common sizes I make, the 12" square box will hold ~125 wine corks, where as the 10" version will hold ~80. It doesn't look like that many will fit in there, but I promise you they will.

Before we begin, I want to mention that these tutorials will be available on my photography site with larger images. Please follow this link if you are interested: Large Tutorial on Smugmug

I begin by selecting my stock from some Home Depot redwood. The boards are usually 8" long and 5/8" thick. The widths vary from 2 1/4" to 6" with a 1/8" round over on the edges. Most of the time I leave the round over on the 10" boxes, on the larger stock I trim them off.



Once I cut my stock to length and rip to the desired width I setup my tablesaw to make 45 degrees bevel cuts. I add a fence to my miter saw and find a clamp and stock block. You can see my stock to the right of my fence just waiting to be cut.



Since i have been making so many of these things lately, I've cut a few pieces of MDF to help with the measurements.



Here you can see how I use them to set the stop block.



Before I begin cutting, I mark my boards with a red pencil to indicate the top of each piece. I then make my cuts playing the top down to the left of the blade a cut a small piece off the end. I then flip the board over, top up, slide it against the stop block and make the final cut. I sit the piece I just cut off to the side then I flip the board back over, top down, and trim off just enough to get rid of the previous bevel cut. After that I flip the board back over, slide it against the stop block again the make the cut. Repeat until you have four sides.

Here you can see all four sides. At this time I usually number the boards in the order they where cut, and place an arrow indicating which edge will be the front. I also mark which board I want to be the top.





I almost always use either board #2 or #3 so the grain warps around the edges of the top.

I take the boards that will become the top and mark the center of each. I then clamp them to the bench with a sacrificial board beneath them and use a 1 1/4" spade bit to drill a hole in the center of the board. This will be were the corks go in. I'm sure a drill press and better bits would make this much easier.



Here you can see the tops with holes drilled.



The next step is to rout the inside of the hole to make make it look smoother. I do this at the router table with 1/2" round over bit and the fence removed. I lower the piece on the bit and rout in a clockwise direction until I have rounded over the entire hole. *This can be dangerous process if you've never done it before, so be careful and have a firm grip on the the piece as you lower it. Thankfully a 1 1/4" hole with 1/2" round over bit you can lower the board on without the bit touching the wood.*



Here you can see the hole after it was routed. Doesn't that look nice?



Now it's time to cut the dado for the glass and rout a rabbit for the back. I cut a 1/8" dado on the table saw by setting the blade to make a 3/16" cut 1/4" from the fence. I make sure the top of the piece is up and the arrow pointing towards the front edge is also pointing towards the fence.

If you're like me and use a thin kerf blade, you may need to adjust your fence just slightly in order to get a 1/8" dado. Practice on a scrap first.

After the dado is cut in the bottom of each piece. I head to the router table to cut a rabbit 5/8" deep by 1/4" tall. I use a rabbiting bit for this, but I've also done it in with the tablesaw.

Here's the pieces after the dados and rabbits have been cut.



The final step is to measure the dado so you know what size glass to get. The easiest way I have found is to place a thin ruler in the dado, place the 1" mark at the bottom left most edge of the dado, then take a reading from the other side and subtract 1". Don't forget to subtract that inch!





A note on that glass. I prefer glass because it's easier to clean up after the finishing. I used plastic on the my first one and it was a disaster. I'm also fortunate enough to know a place that is friendly, fast, and dirt cheap to get my glass from. My last order was for 14 pieces of glass ranging from 9" square to 11" square and it cost me less that $30 and was ready in a couple days.

That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and are inspired to make your own. Next time I'll cover cutting the plywood back and assembly.

Comments and feedback our always welcome! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Thanks.

David

Large Tutorial on Smugmug


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## richardf (Nov 8, 2009)

FaTToaD said:


> *Cutting and Measuring*
> 
> In this tutorial I'll be making three redwood wine box displays. Two will be 12" x 12" x 3", the other will be 10" x 10" x 2 1/4". These are the two most common sizes I make, the 12" square box will hold ~125 wine corks, where as the 10" version will hold ~80. It doesn't look like that many will fit in there, but I promise you they will.
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Ah, I realized my mistake, I assembled the box first, and then tried drilling and rounding over the hole. Your assembly steps are much more logical. Great job.


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## JamesVavra (Apr 27, 2009)

FaTToaD said:


> *Cutting and Measuring*
> 
> In this tutorial I'll be making three redwood wine box displays. Two will be 12" x 12" x 3", the other will be 10" x 10" x 2 1/4". These are the two most common sizes I make, the 12" square box will hold ~125 wine corks, where as the 10" version will hold ~80. It doesn't look like that many will fit in there, but I promise you they will.
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David,

Great blog. I've made similar projects and one thing I've always done differently is to cut the dado and rabbit on the long piece of stock before I crosscut the it into individual pieces.

For me at least, it makes it glaringly apparent which is the inside and the outside when the shorter pieces are being cut. Also, it prevents me from screwing up the grain wrapping around the edge by flipping a piece 180'. It does require that you start with a board that is long enough to make all four sides, so it's not always an option.

James


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## JonathanG (Jan 18, 2010)

FaTToaD said:


> *Cutting and Measuring*
> 
> In this tutorial I'll be making three redwood wine box displays. Two will be 12" x 12" x 3", the other will be 10" x 10" x 2 1/4". These are the two most common sizes I make, the 12" square box will hold ~125 wine corks, where as the 10" version will hold ~80. It doesn't look like that many will fit in there, but I promise you they will.
> 
> ...


So far, this is an excellent tutorial. The pictures and amount of detail listed on every step is very helpful.

I'm curious to read the future tutorials through completion.


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

FaTToaD said:


> *Cutting and Measuring*
> 
> In this tutorial I'll be making three redwood wine box displays. Two will be 12" x 12" x 3", the other will be 10" x 10" x 2 1/4". These are the two most common sizes I make, the 12" square box will hold ~125 wine corks, where as the 10" version will hold ~80. It doesn't look like that many will fit in there, but I promise you they will.
> 
> ...


great blog!! these would make excellent Christmas gifts, even better if one were to throw in a bottle with the first cork for the collection (-:


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## Bearpie (Feb 19, 2010)

FaTToaD said:


> *Cutting and Measuring*
> 
> In this tutorial I'll be making three redwood wine box displays. Two will be 12" x 12" x 3", the other will be 10" x 10" x 2 1/4". These are the two most common sizes I make, the 12" square box will hold ~125 wine corks, where as the 10" version will hold ~80. It doesn't look like that many will fit in there, but I promise you they will.
> 
> ...


Ha, we have a friend who we make fun of (behind his back ofcourse) because whenever we see him at parties we all keep an eye out on him because he is forever surreptitiously filching corks whenever a bottle is opened and it is laying on the counter, he will walk by and without being obvious will reach out and put the cork in his pocket. Once upon seeing him do it the hostess later asked him for the cork, cause the bottle was not empty, he denied having it! That was how the cork fable got started. Whenever we see a cork laying around, we would say this is for "Charles" or look around and ask where is "Charles"? Yes it gets old after a while but almost every time someone in our circle of friends get together it will invariably come up if there is a cork around! If you hand Charles a cork he will say he doesn't want it but it always disappears later! Always! This would be a perfect gift for him! Thanks for posting!

Erwin, Jacksonville, FL


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## FaTToaD (Oct 19, 2009)

*Assembly*

In this tutorial, I'll show how I glue and assembly my wine cork displays. If you're interested in a version with larger pictures, follow the link below:

Bigger Picture Version

Now that I've got my glass, I can begin the glue-up. However, I suggest sanding the inside first, one less thing to deal with later.

I begin by laying my pieces down on my table with the inside facing down and the front facing away from me. I use a piece of MDF to make sure the front edges are aligned then place masking tape on each joint.



 

After all the joints are taped, I flip the whole assembly over and fold everything together, taping the last corner. After looking to make sure the corners are tight and everything lines up, I untape one of the corners and lay it back open.



Now I go find my glass. As you can see here, my glass comes stacked with painters tape holding the pieces together. I like stacking them on bench cookies so they won't get scratched. Actually, I haven't had these bench cookies long and the only thing I've used them for is to hold pieces of glass. I should probably try to use them something eventually…

 

I do another dry fit with the glass in place to make sure there are no issues.

 

Next I untape an edge and lay the assembly open again. I sit the glass aside and get out my glue. I spread glue evenly on each miter face, let it sit for a few minutes, the repeat the process.

 


After I applied all the glue, I insert the glass, fold the assembly together again, and tape the last corner so everything is nice and tight.



You might notice there is a little squeeze out on the inside corners, I usually take care of this with a chisel after the glue drys.

Now, you can let it dry with just the tape holding the joints, but since I got a couple of those band clamps, I've been using them to make sure the miters really pull together tight.

 

That's about it for the assembly, just them cook for a while, then take the tape and/or clamps off.

In the next section, I'll show how I cut and glue in the miter keys!

Thanks for looking, any comments will be appreciated.

Bigger Picture Version


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## Diggerjacks (Oct 22, 2009)

FaTToaD said:


> *Assembly*
> 
> In this tutorial, I'll show how I glue and assembly my wine cork displays. If you're interested in a version with larger pictures, follow the link below:
> 
> ...


Very interesting blog

I like it

I think I will make a wine cork dispaly like yours in the future

Thanks for sharing


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## FaTToaD (Oct 19, 2009)

*Miter Keys*

In this final section of the Wine Cork Display Tutorials I will show you how I cut and glue in the miter keys.

Larger Picture Version

LJ Project of Finished Displays

Here you can see my miter key jig. Since I cut so many miter keys for the wine cork displays and the boxes I make, I decided that a nice, large, dedicated jig would save me a lot of time. It works really well, I've used the heck out it.



The first thing I do is figure out how far from the edge I want my keys to be. I take into account how deep the rabbit for the back and the dado for the glass is so I don't cut into them. I also make sure the saw blade height is set accordingly and will not cut completely through the box.



I use a ruler to set the stop block the distance I want and then clamp it in place with a C clamp.



Once my stop block is in place, I rest the box securely in the jig, turn the saw on, and slide the jig forward to make the cut.



Now, I've seen videos of people making this cut then pulling the jig back through the blade with the box still in the jig. I use to do this until the box shifted once and basically ruined that project. So, after I slide the piece through the blade, I left the box off and slide the jig back the front of the table top.

After I move the jig back to the front, I flip the box forward and place it back in the jig to make the cut on the next corner. I do this for all four corners.

Here you can see the kerf left by saw, nice and clean. A flat tooth blade is really the only way to go. I have an ATB+F blade I picked up from Lowes, it works great.



Once the cuts have made on all four corners on one side of the box, I flip the box around and make the same cuts on the other side. This way all eight miter keys are evenly spaced from the outside edge.

 

Now, on some of the boxes that are a bit deeper, I make another set of miter key cuts at a shallower dept. This is up to you, experiment and see what you like.

Here's what I did on the two larger ones.



Here's all three displays I'm currently working on with all the miter key slots cut.



Next I cut some strips for the the keys themselves, walnut in this case. These strips need to be the exact width of your saw blade for a nice snug fit.



A test fit to make sure everything is ready to go.



Once you have your strips cut, you can cut them into smaller pieces to fit into the slots. I usually cut them by hand with a dovetail or backcut saw. I cut them so they are about a 1/4" longer than needed so I have room to slide them around.



All the pieces are cut, lets get to glueing them in!



I start by getting my glue out and putting a big helping of it on a piece of scrap wood. This way I can "dip" my pieces in the glue. This just seems quicker to me. I also use a small applicator bottle to put a little glue in each slot.



Going one corner at a time, I start by placing a small amount of the glue in each slot with the squeeze bottle.



I then dip an edge into the glue and spread a little around the top and bottom with my finger.



Next place the piece firmly into one of the miter key slots. I like to make sure a little glue squeezes out both sides so I know I'll have a good bond.



Repeat for the remaining slots on that corner.



Once you get one side complete, spin the box and do the rest. Here's all of the boxes with the miter keys glued in.



Once the glue has dried, I cut the excess off with a flush cut saw.




I usually trim one side the of the box, then flip it over and do the other side.



Once all the keys are cut flush, you can sand the outside and get ready to apply your finish!



For the back, I just cut a piece of 1/4" plywood that fits snug into the rabbit in the back.

As for the finish, I usually used BLO followed by a wiping varnish on the redwood. On the oak, usually just wiping varnish or poly.

I hoped you enjoyed these tutorials. I think it was a good learning experience for me to actually document my process. If you have any questions feel free to message me. Thanks for looking!

Larger Picture Version


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## gad5264 (Sep 13, 2007)

FaTToaD said:


> *Miter Keys*
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> In this final section of the Wine Cork Display Tutorials I will show you how I cut and glue in the miter keys.
> 
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Those are pretty cool David, thanks for posting


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## MichaelJ (Aug 14, 2009)

FaTToaD said:


> *Miter Keys*
> 
> In this final section of the Wine Cork Display Tutorials I will show you how I cut and glue in the miter keys.
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Very nice Job on the tutorial!


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