Hockey Puck Display Stand

Time: 4-5 hours

Cost: <$40

Tools: Table and/or circular saw, hammer, drill, paint brush, level, measuring tape (calipers help), wood glue, stain (2 colors), polyurethane, wall hooks

Background: The average American household has 8 commemorative hockey pucks lying around. This display stand will help you show off all eight of your pucks to friends and families.

Step 1: Wood Cut List

I recommend staining all of the wood pieces prior to cutting to save time. There is no end grain visible on the finished product except the dowels so don't worry about the ends being stained after cutting on everything else unless you are a perfectionist.

Stain: Stain all of the below red oak pieces a dark color (I used Dark Walnut) and stain all of the pine pieces a lighter color (I used Early American). The plywood and dowel rods were both stained the darker color.

1/4" or 5/16" plywood: You will need some thin plywood or MDF to use as a 15" x 9" backer board. It doesn't need to be perfect so feel free to use a piece of scrap wood lying around. I used 5/16" underlayment for mine so if you choose something different, adjust the dimensions accordingly.

1" x 2" red oak:

• 9x 5" long
• 2x 16.5" long (frame pieces, wait until end to cut)
• 2x 10.5" long (frame pieces, wait until end to cut)

1" x 2" white pine:

• 6x 5" long
• 6x 2.5" long

1/4" wooden dowel:

• 16x 1.5" long (I recommend making a dowel rod cutting jig to avoid them flying everywhere when cut. Google to find how to make one)

Step 2: Staining and Glue

If you didn't do so already, stain all of your parts per the previous step.

After everything is stained to the desired color and dry, start gluing the pieces onto the backer board. Start with the white pine on the bottom and then layer pine, oak, pine, oak, pine, oak going up. Once done, it should look like the second picture. Use the drawing uploaded to the previous step if needed for guidance.

Once all the pieces are in place, put a piece of scrap plywood on top making sure that all pieces are covered and add some weight (paint can or dumbbells work) to hold everything in place. You may want to also clamp everything in horizontally and vertically to make sure pieces don't bleed out the sides. Note that clamping the sides may try to bow out the pieces if clamped too tight.

Step 3: Frame

To create the frame, I first ripped a 6' long piece of red oak down to 1 1/16" wide (equal to width of 1x2's plus the width of the 5/16" underlayment I used for the backer board). I think measured the height and width of my backerboard with glued on pieces and cut the frame pieces to length with 45° miters at each end. I then clamped up the frame (2x clamps per direction if possible) and let sit a few hours.

Step 4: Polyurethane, Drill Holes and Add Dowels

I added two coats of polyurethane prior to drilling the holes to avoid brushing around each pin and to also prevent build-up around the pins. If you go this route, you will need to poly each dowel lightly (use a little paint brush) after installing.

Using the drawing attached to step 2, drill the 1/4" diameter, 1.5" deep holes in all 16 locations. Calipers or a measuring tape can be used to mark each location prior to drilling. I would highly recommend using a drill press to ensure that all holes are perpendicular and are to the same depth. If you do not own a drill press, use a piece of tape on your drill bit to ensure all holes are 1.5" deep and I would also fabricate a drill jig (basically two pieces of wood attached to each other at a right angle) to ensure the bit is perpendicular at all times.

After all holes are drilled, install each dowel pin with a dab of wood glue and use a hammer (lightly) to make sure they are all seated on the bottom of the holes. Add stain to the dowel pin end grains and then polyurethane each pin once dry.

Step 5: Hang on a Wall and Display Your Pucks

You are now ready to add some wall hangers/hooks/whatever to hang this thing on the wall and display your pucks. If you decide to just sit it on a shelf like I did, you will need to make some support legs. The pucks are heavy, so your legs should stick out the back at least 3" and should be fairly beefy. I ended up just nailing a piece of 2x4 on the back and then setting a 2lb weight on it for a temporary solution until I get this hung up on a wall.