Man Cave Bottle Opener

No man cave is complete without a fashionable bottle opener. This bottle opener features a scroll saw cut football player, wall hanging and a magnetic catch. A simple build with only a few tools and materials.

Step 1: Tools and Materials

Tools Needed

• Scroll Saw
• Router
  • straight bit
  • decorative edging
• Sand Paper of various grits (electric sander optional)
• Drill
• Brushes
• Computer with Printer (optional)
• Hanger
• Speed square
• Hammer
• Random hard objects

Materials Needed

• One board for backing. I used a board 1"x10"x14" southern pine. This can be any type of wood you want.
• A thin piece of wood for crafting the player. I used a piece of basswood from a local hardware store
• Rare earth magnet 1" x 1/2" (http://www.magnet4sale.com/Neodymium-Magnets-N52-Dia-1-X0.5-NdFeB-Rare-Earth-Magnets.html)

• Bottle opener (screws for mounting)

• Spray paints

• Wood Glue
• Wood finish
• Spray glue or glue stick

Step 2: Preparing the Back Board

Cut your board to size

To create a back board you will want to cut it to size. I cut mine to 9 by 13 inches. I would suggest doing some preliminary sanding before routering the edges.

Router the Edges

Using a router with a decorative edging bit go around the outside edges against the rotation of the router. Make sure your board wont move around while you are using the router. Clamping works well.I prefer to place the board on top of non-slip drawer lining which costs about 5 dollars for a 4 foot roll. When going around a corner finish one edge and start a couple inches in on the next side working back toward the corner. This will help keep the router from splintering the corner.

Sand

Sand the face and edges of the back board. This is where an electric sander comes in handy. Progressively work toward finer and finer grits. A good progression of grits would be 80, 120, 180.

Distress (optional)

For a distressed look use your hammer and random hard objects (make sure any random objects you use do not have sharp edges on them. Too sharp of an edge ruins the illusion of a natural distressed look) to hit in various places around the board. For the most realistic distressing keep the majority of the hits toward the lower outside edges where the most natural hits would occur. Once you have worked out your frustrations or are satisified with the look hit the board with the finer grit of sandpaper just to take any harsh edges off of the dents you have made. Do not over do the sanding here or you will take away your distressed look.

Stain and Clear Coat the Board

Step 3: Find Your Image and Print

Find a Pattern

Look online for some ideas on what you would like your football player to look like. I found this logo online at http://cdn3.vox-cdn.com/uploads/blog/sbnu_logo_min... Things to look for while you are searching is to look for a design that fits your scroll saw level. I'm still new at using a scroll saw so I went with a minimalist design too make cutting easier. Do not feel limited to a player either. You can use things such as mascots, team names, logos, ect. Make it your own!

Size Your Image

Print your image to the size you need. Some times this can take a little bit of playing around with setting to get it to look right. I ended up blowing my image up 300 percent to get it the right size on my back board. After each time printing put it on your background to see if you like the size. If you are having trouble with backgrounds in the picture cut the picture out so it is easy to see. Once you are happy with your printing size print out several copies of your image to size to allow for mistakes.

Step 4: Cutting

Cut the pattern apart

Once you have the image for your pattern printed separate the parts of the pattern. This will make cutting the parts of of your design easy to work with. While I was prepping to do the gluing I decided to make some modifications to the face mask. The thin lines which made up the face mask would be difficult to make look good, so I beefed up a few lines to make it easier to cut.

Glue the pattern down

There are several ways to go about this step. If you are doing a pattern or logos with big or intricate pieces a spray adhesive would probably be the best bet. My design is simple and fairly small so I went with a glue stick. Glue the pattern down onto the thin piece of wood. When gluing the pattern down make sure the paper is smooth and glued completely. This will ensure the stencil will stay on your wood as you cut. I arranged my pattern in a way to allow for longer cuts

Cut out the pattern with the scroll saw

Once the glue has dried fire up your scroll saw. There are a lot of resources on the internet that will give you tips on using a scroll saw. My suggestion would be to be safe and take your time. This step will take some time. make your cuts long and smooth. For any cuts that need to be inside you will need to drill a hole to feed the blade through.

Step 5: Sand and Finish the Logo

Sand the Parts

Once all of the parts of your logo are cut out sand the paper pattern off. Use around a 100 grit sand paper. After the paper has been sanded off work around the edges of piece smoothing out the cuts. While sanding shape the individual parts of the image. On the logo I chose the shaping I focused on was rounding the top edge of the helmet down, taking the top edge of the shoulder pads down, and rounding the arms. Use a similar progression of sand paper as for preparing the back board.

Paint or stain the Parts

When logo parts are sanded it is time for painting. In order to paint the small parts glue them with your glue stick down to a piece of cardboard. Leave plenty of space between pieces. If you are spray painting with several different colors use a separate piece of cardboard for each color. When the paint dries clear coat the pieces. This step is here because once pieces are glued into place it can be very difficult to reach all the nooks and crannies. Next peel up the pieces. Any pieces of cardboard stuck to the parts simply scrape it off or use a little sand paper to take the cardboard off.

Step 6: Inlay the Magnet

Cut the Recess

Using a ruler or a tape measure find the magnet placement in the back of the board. Place the magnet onto the board and trace it with a pencil. Set the depth of the router to a depth equal to the height of the magnet or a quarter inch less than the depth of the board. (The old saying measure twice is important here. You do not want the router to go through the board.) Using the router cut out the recess.

Epoxy the Magnet

With the recess cut it is time to epoxy the magnet into place. I used a JB weld clear epoxy. Read and follow all instructions for your epoxy. Once you have it mixed put a layer of epoxy into the bottom of the recess. Do not worry too much about getting too much. simply push the magnet into the epoxy letting it rise along the sides. Once the magnet is in the bottom of the recess use a disposable tool to clean up the epoxy that has risen above the sides of the recess. Let the epoxy set.

Step 7: Attach the Logo and Finishing Touches

Attach the Logo

Lay out the logo onto the back board. Reference back to the original picture for help getting the pieces to line up correctly. Then work from middle of the logo out glue each piece down one at a time. Take it slow. It can be very difficult to keep things lined up, and straight on the back board.

Paint the Opener (optional)

My opener was not a high end show piece so I painted the openers to match the colors of the logo, and distressed the paint. There are many openers available on the internet which have a great finished look already.

Attach the Opener and Hanger

Measure to find the center of the back board. Place the bottle opener onto the center line. Using a pencil mark the holes for the opener. Remove the opener from the board and drill pilot holes for the screws. Attach the opener to the back board using screws. Turn the project over and attach a self balancing hanger to the back side. Keep the hanger about an inch and a half down from the top of the back board.

Now test it a few times (just to make sure it works of course)

I hope you have enjoyed this weekend project. If you have any constructive criticisms or questions please feel free to comment and don't forget to vote for this project!