I wanted to carve a coaster for myself, and very casually thought a 1×4 piece of black walnut would work. Not really. The width of the 1×4 was actually 3 7/16ths and with the border, that left only 2 ¾ inches for the Plexiglas plate. Barely enough room to put a glass on and not enough room for a coffee cup. If you want to learn more about my walnut coaster please read my notes below.
So, start out with a 1×6.
The first problem was to inlet the Plexiglas plate and have a clean outer edge in the wood. I used a Dremel with a router attachment to recess the wood for the thickness of the Plexiglas plate, but first I needed to establish a clean recessed outer edge.
I attached a piece of Plexiglass to the router attachment with an elongated slot for the router bit. That way, I could adjust for the radius of the circle
I inserted a pin to pivot on. You can barely see the pivot pin.
I then cut the outer circular edge (slot) establishing a clean outer recessed rim. I removed the Plexiglass plate, reset the depth of the router bit for the plate thickness and routed out the rest of the wood for the Plexiglass plate to fit in.
I had a bit of a problem getting the repeating circumference pattern to precisely match the circumference of the coaster. That is, until someone said, “why don’t you fill in the gap with your initials?”. Duh, problem solved!
I think I finished this in 2009 using a gun stock finish such as True Oil for durability.
Carving tip: Undercut the relief carving with a dental tool or X-Acto knife to create a shadow. That will make the carving pop out.
It was a nice experiment and a learning experience, which is what wood carving is all about.
So much for a coaster for my glass, now I need to make a bigger one for my coffee cup.
Pattern Notes:
I do not draw birds and animals very well, so I usually scan the critters in from sporting magazines, outdoor catalogs and etc. I then import the pictures into a MS Word document, where I can resize them to whatever size I need.
Another source of patterns for a round frame is the old-fashioned men’s pocket watches such as the one I have. There are plenty of images on the web.
Some other sources for pictures and ideas:
This one is the top of my wife’s pot-Pourier canister.
This one is a wall plaque artwork.
Note: If you sell any of your coasters, check to make sure that the images you have used do not have copyright protection.
My best to you and have fun experimenting and carving.
Gary Paulson
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