I
have enjoyed working with wood for many years, tinkering with
one project or another. I came upon the idea for these bottle
openers one day while wondering about how to get nicely polished
wood, which looks good and feels good, to also be useful for something.
It seemed to me that the act of opening a bottle, something we
all do from time to time, needed an upgrade from that rusty little
half broken bottle opener lost in that kitchen drawer. My goal
was to incorporate some nice woods with a graceful design into
a piece of art that could actually do some useful work. I started
using stainless steel washers as the metal tabs, grinding them
down to size. Later I decided to have them laser cut to a design
that better grabs the bottle cap. The wood design came from experimenting
with what worked to open bottles and what felt good in the hand.
One of the joys of woodworking is watching the different woods
come alive as they are shaped, sanded and polished.. I hope you
enjoy using these openers as much as I enjoy making them.
Cheers!
Jeff Miner
South Lake Tahoe, CA
Rough
Sanded
Drying
Rack
In the Shop
Humble Beginnings
The elegantly functional,
beautiful and tactile bottle opener design you see on previous
pages (excuse me for tooting my own horn!) took some time and
experimenting to develop. While looking for scraps in one of
my wood boxes recently, I uncovered some examples of proto-types
that led to the current design. Note the evolution of the hand-friendy
shape and the use of a screw, stainless steel washers ground
down on sides, brass stock and even a nickle as the metal piece
for the opener tab.
Earlier Design
Note the tabs made of sanded-down
stainless steel washers on some of these early models. I later
gave up on metalurgy by farming out the tabs to a laser cutting
company so I could concentrate more on what I like to do, which
is shaping and sanding the wood.
Satisfied Customers
Gary in Bozeman, Montana
Our Bottle Opener
Inspires Art!
Drawing by Carol Lehnert
Gift to President Obama
In April, 2016, I sent two bottle
openers President Obama as a Thank You gift for his service to
our country. He must receive thousands of gifts from grateful
citizens like myself so it's likely he will never see these, but
the joy is in the giving. And who knows, maybe some Secret Service
Agent may deem them worthy to be passed on to the Chief.
I
have enjoyed working with wood for many years, tinkering with
one project or another. I came upon the idea for these bottle
openers one day while wondering about how to get nicely polished
wood, which looks good and feels good, to also be useful for something.
It seemed to me that the act of opening a bottle, something we
all do from time to time, needed an upgrade from that rusty little
half broken bottle opener lost in that kitchen drawer. My goal
was to incorporate some nice woods with a graceful design into
a piece of art that could actually do some useful work. I started
using stainless steel washers as the metal tabs, grinding them
down to size. Later I decided to have them laser cut to a design
that better grabs the bottle cap. The wood design came from experimenting
with what worked to open bottles and what felt good in the hand.
One of the joys of woodworking is watching the different woods
come alive as they are shaped, sanded and polished.. I hope you
enjoy using these openers as much as I enjoy making them.
Rough
Sanded
Drying
Rack 
