Pallet Beer or Wine Flights

This is a Simple and Easy Project which you can either go overboard with, or just slap it together...

Materials Needed:

1. Wood (Any boards will work...this process really works for a rustic feeling)
2. Piece of Paper (used to Get the Holes spaced evenly)
3. 2 1/8 Forstner Bit (Or any other sized Hole Making Bit that will fit the bottom of your glass)
4. Stick on Cork Board (Your Local Big Box/Hardware store should have this with their other "Drawer Lining" Materials Section)
5. Polywipe + Mineral Oil + Boiled Linseed Oil or Other Combination to finish the final product

Step 1: Find and Select Your Pallet or Board

This is the Fun Part....Find Interesting Wood
In My Case, it was an oak pallet that had some major cracks, knots, and live edge.

Prep and clean the wood by either using steel wool or a wire brush to get all the dirt and loose wood removed if any.

Step 2: Determine the Location of Your Holes

There are three ways to go about figuring out how to evenly space your holes for the glasses:

1. Eyeball it...just go by intuition
2. Perform some Math to figure out the even spacing of the holes (you are on your own there...)
3. Use a Piece of Paper

Here is how to use a piece of paper:

1. Cut a piece a paper to the same width as your board, or as the distance that you want available for the holes (You'll notice on mine that I included a 2" space on either end of the board for a person hand to carry the board My boards are 14" wide - so I used an 8.5X10" piece of paper).
2. Folder the paper in half and create a crease
3. Unfold the paper, now fold the edges of the paper to the crease line you made (you'll have 3 creases now)
4. You now have 4 evenly spaced sections of the paper - find the middle of each section (you could fold each section in half to do so) and you'll now have the center line for each of your holes.
5. Make a Template: Transfer these center lines to a Scrap Piece of Wood - and drill all the way through the wood
6. Place this Template on your boards, this time only drilling as deep as you want your glasses to rest

Step 3: Cut Your Cork...

With most hole making drill bits, you'll have a hole in the center of the hole...which is pretty unattractive.

To cover this up, cut a circle out of some cork board to fill up the bottom of the holes. Don't actually place them on the boards until you're done with the next step.

The use of a small amount of superglue may be needed if the adhesion on the back of the cork board does not work well...

Step 4: Protect Your Wood!

Being that you'll be placing wet stuff on these (i.e. drinks), you'll want to protect the wood as best as you can from spills and condensation.

My prefered method is combing polywipe, boiled linseed oil, and mineral spirits - which gives a protective surface while still allowing the grain of the wood to be felt and enjoyed.

In a glass/plastic jar mix Equal parts of Polywipe and Mineral spirits. Add 1 to 2 Tablespoon of Boiled Linseed Oil (the oil will make the grain "pop out" more, but can yellow the wood a bit)

Heavily saturate the wood with the mixture, leave to sit for 10 minutes, then wipe away the mixture.

Repeat that step 2-3 times, or until the wood no longer absorbed the finish.