Personalized bottle opener

First we are going to pick out a nice flat piece of maple. Draw a simple shape on here kind of like a ice cream cone and I used my jig saw to cut it out. Now I also used a miter saw later to make this go a bit faster then cutting the rounded side out with a jig saw. 

Next is to take a sander and smooth out and shape your bottle opener I started with a 40 grit sandpaper until I had the shape that I liked on later ones I did cheat with a router and used a 30 degree chamfer bit, then I used 100 grit sandpaper to get rid of the rough markings then 180 and a final sand of 320grit

Drilling the holes now this will depend on the size of the bottle openers you have but the key is to make two holes one will need to be smaller and you do not want to go all the way through the material so measure I used a forisner bit first cut is 7/8"  and the second is 1 9/16" the larger hole will only be as deep as the thickness of the bottle opener to make for a flat surface mine were approx 1/8". After this I did take a piece of 400grit wet sand paper and smoothed out all the rough edges so that the final product feels nice in the palm of your hand. 

Now you can place the bottle opener in the hole and I used a small drill bit and made two small holes prior to placing the screws in. I always place these screws in by hand because you can feel if the wood is going to split or strip this way and correct if so.

Now I have a branding Iron that I think looks really cool for my shops emblem (rustic or primitive looking) I use this to make the mark on the back of them so everyone knows where to get more of them! this step can be done on the laser engraver and does still look very cool but I like the look of this.

Now we are on to the lasering! I love this part its where Shelly comes out (yes I have named my laser) and she makes the beautiful marks on the side of these, now since they are at an angle I did have to “build” a temporary holder out of magnets to make the side flat and level you can see this in the picture but I stacked some magnets up and place some on all sides to keep the material strait and flat using a bubble level I made sure it was flat then I engraved side one then flipped the bottle opener and flipped the orientation of the design so that they both face the same direction. 

Now I sealed in the wood by using Station 22 Woodworking Wood Butter this seals in the pores and makes the natural wood food safe and shine with a silky smooth finish!

Have fun making your bottle openers! and don't forget A blue laser hertz twice as much as a red laser.