An Unconventional Beer Caddy

One thing I've noticed about beer caddies is that they look more or less the same; like a much nicer version of the classic cardboard six-pack carrier crossed with a vintage toolbox. That got me wondering; is there really no other way to make a beer caddy? In this project I had three goals:

1. I wanted to make a unique, unconventional beer caddy
2. I wanted to use reclaimed wood
3. I wanted the caddy to be collapsible and easy to store

With this criteria in mind, I gathered the only reclaimed wood I had (part of a fence board and an old broom handle) and got to work.

Thanks to everyone who voted for me in the Reclaimed Wood and Outside Contests!

Step 1: What You Need:

- Saw

- Miter box

- 1" diameter wooden rod

- 5.5" by 16+" wooden board (I used a fence board, and it worked perfectly)

- Drill or drill press

- 1.75" Forstner bit, 1/4" and 3/8" regular drill bits

- Roughly 10 feet of paracord (I initially thought of using twine, but it didn't work very well)

Step 2: Cutting

- Cut two 8" long pieces from the 5.5" wide board.

- Next, cut a 4" long piece off of the 1" diameter wooden rod. This will be your handle piece.

Step 3: Drilling Part 1

- Take one of the 5.5" by 8" pieces of board. Draw two lines, each of them 1.5" in from the 8" edges. Make marks at 1.5", 4", and 6.5" along each line (represented by the red dots in Image 1).

- Use the 1.75" forstner bit to drill holes through each of the marks.

- Drill three holes in each corner roughly 1/4" apart, using the 1/4" drill bit. You want the holes to be roughly 3/8" in from the edges of the board. This board is the top piece.

Step 4: Drilling Part 2

- Center the piece of board you drilled in the last step over the second piece of board.

- Using the outermost of the three 1/4" holes in each corner as a guide, drill holes in the corners of the second piece of board with the 1/4" drill bit. This second piece of board is the base.

- Clamp the handle piece so that it is perpendicular to the table of your drill press, and use the 3/8" drill bit to drill a hole straight through the center.

Step 5: Putting It All Together

- Cut your paracord into two 4' 8" sections.

- Take one of the pieces and tie the end into a figure 8 knot, leaving a 9.25" "tail" free.

- Loop the tail through one of the holes on the base, and follow it through the figure 8 (steps 5 onward of this). Pull the knot tight (Image 1).

- Feed the paracord through the three holes in the corresponding corner of the top piece, starting from below the outermost of the three holes (Image 2).

- Feed the paracord through the handle, then feed it through the three holes on the other end of that 8" edge, starting from above the innermost of the three holes (Images 3 & 4).

- Tie the end into another figure 8 knot with a 9.25" tail. Loop the tail through the hole in the corresponding corner of the base, and follow it through the figure 8 (Image 5).

- Repeat these steps with the other piece of paracord, along the other 8" edge.

Step 6: Securing the Beer

- Place the beer on the base, with the necks of the bottles sticking up through the holes of the top piece.

- Push down on the top piece while simultaneously pulling up on the handle.

- Push down on each of the corners and pull on the paracord that leads to the handle to tighten the hold on the beer.

- Pick the caddy up and make sure that the beer is secure and unmoving.

- To remove the beer, simply do as I do in the GIF.