# Wine Balancer and Bottle Stopper



## Taylormade (Feb 3, 2011)

This was my first project made from wood I milled. The wood was "found" in my neighbor's burn pile, neatly stacked. I grabbed one piece and decided to have a go at it. 










After I got the bandsaw set up correctly (thanks to the help of some folks here) I was able to resaw the log into usable pieces. After I planed them down and cut them to size, here's what I had.


















Off to the drill press.









I cut the beveled edge at 36 degrees









I didn't take any pics of the turning process, but it's easy enough. After I rounded over the top and the hole, slapped on some BLO and tung oil finish, here's how they came out.


----------



## H. A. S. (Sep 23, 2010)

Extremely nice project, great finish, too!


----------



## Brink (Nov 22, 2010)

Nice job!

Lets see, I have 6 cords of wine balancers and bottle stoppers. (hmmm)


----------



## tcleve4911 (Dec 16, 2006)

I see xmas presents....thanks Santa.........


----------



## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

And to think that your neighbour was going to burn that. Beautiful grain, beautiful project. Very nice work indeed. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

I have never before heard the term "wine balancer." Is that board with the hole a wine balancer? How did that name originate?

George


----------



## Taylormade (Feb 3, 2011)

GeorgeC said:


> I have never before heard the term "wine balancer." Is that board with the hole a wine balancer? How did that name originate?
> 
> George


Yeah, it's for cool factor solely. If you have a nice bottle of wine that you want to display or wow your friends, toss it in here and it magically balances itself. 

Here's a better angle of the first one I made.


----------



## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

Taylor, nice work and beautiful wood. Amazing what you can find in burn piles sometimes. I make a lot of those balancers for craft shows, etc. Just a couple of thoughts: I like the way you moved the hole towards the top in this one versus the laminated one. Also if you cut the angle to 40 degrees and drill the hole 10 degrees less, the bottle will sit a little more level and won't have to stick out quite so far. I built a simple adjustable jig for drilling at an angle. If you'd like I can post a pic for you. Anyway keep up the nice work.


----------



## Taylormade (Feb 3, 2011)

sawdustfactory said:


> Taylor, nice work and beautiful wood. Amazing what you can find in burn piles sometimes. I make a lot of those balancers for craft shows, etc. Just a couple of thoughts: I like the way you moved the hole towards the top in this one versus the laminated one. Also if you cut the angle to 40 degrees and drill the hole 10 degrees less, the bottle will sit a little more level and won't have to stick out quite so far. I built a simple adjustable jig for drilling at an angle. If you'd like I can post a pic for you. Anyway keep up the nice work.


Hey, by all means, please do and thanks.


----------



## Fsucraigk (Nov 4, 2011)

I produced just over a hundred of the wine bottle holders as gifts for my wedding, it started off with some scraps and ended up being a massive undertaking of five 18hr days for the production. I cut the ends at 45degree angles with an overall length of 8 3/4", hole at 6 1/2" and width under 3". I built a small jig for the drill press. The remaining ten left overs got donated to Special Operations Warrior Foundation for them to use at auctions and fundraisers.


----------



## Shop Dad (May 3, 2011)

Great Christmas idea! Thanks for sharing. These look great! :smile:


----------



## Taylormade (Feb 3, 2011)

Fsucraigk said:


> I produced just over a hundred of the wine bottle holders as gifts for my wedding, it started off with some scraps and ended up being a massive undertaking of five 18hr days for the production. I cut the ends at 45degree angles with an overall length of 8 3/4", hole at 6 1/2" and width under 3". I built a small jig for the drill press. The remaining ten left overs got donated to Special Operations Warrior Foundation for them to use at auctions and fundraisers.


Thanks for your input. For this one, I made the hole centered at 7 1/8" from the bottom. The first one I made was 45 degrees and I didn't feel like it gave me the support I wanted with the varying levels of liquid in the bottle. It was fine full, but once I got to about halfway down, some serious work had to be done getting it to balance. 

I had read that 36 degrees made a very nice balancing point for all stages and it's worked well for me (this is my fourth). I was going to drill the hole at an angle so the bottle would lay a little flatter, but instead I chose to round over the edge to provide a little relief. The next one I make, I may experiment a little bit with it. 

Thanks for all your input and feedback!


----------



## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

Here are some pics of the angle drilling jig I use. Small piano hinges on front and the side hardware is a lid support that can be tightened down. I have a series of blocks cut at the common angles I drill for ease in set up. Hope you find this helpful.


----------



## Texas Sawduster (Apr 27, 2009)

*Nice Work !!!*

Nice job on that woodpile acquisition.
Thanks for sharing.


----------



## Fsucraigk (Nov 4, 2011)

Thanks for the pics of the jig. I'm sure I'll be 'asked' by the wife to make more in the future after how well the first hundred were appreciated...


----------



## johnnie52 (Feb 16, 2009)

Now I know what to make for m brother in law....

Great project Taylor... nicely done. This is the first time I've seen anyone try to use our local "water" Oak in a project.:thumbsup:


----------



## AmericanMaple (Oct 13, 2011)

sawdustfactory said:


> Here are some pics of the angle drilling jig I use. Small piano hinges on front and the side hardware is a lid support that can be tightened down. I have a series of blocks cut at the common angles I drill for ease in set up. Hope you find this helpful.
> 
> <img src="http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=31415"/>
> 
> ...


So when you go to drill the hole its at a 30 degree angle and also what size bit do you use


----------



## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

The blank us at 30 degrees when I drill it. As to drill size measure the mouth of the bottles. I've found that a lot of newer wine bottles are wider than they used to be.


----------



## bassbone83 (Jan 7, 2011)

Taylormade,

Both look fantastic! Can you tell me the mesurements of the laminated one? Also, what are you doing to ease the edges of the hole? Just hand-sanding? Thanks for the help, and great job!

-Adam





Taylormade said:


> Yeah, it's for cool factor solely. If you have a nice bottle of wine that you want to display or wow your friends, toss it in here and it magically balances itself.
> 
> Here's a better angle of the first one I made.


----------



## Taylormade (Feb 3, 2011)

Thanks... I don't have that particular balancer anymore, but they're typically 9" long with the hole being around 7.25". The one in the picture above was around 10" I believe.


----------

