Note from Kirsten: Today’s DIY is brought to you by my cousin (and Todd’s son) Russ! His family grew up down the street from my family—he was best friends with my brother, and I was best friends with his sister.
Russ has worked in many different positions at Dunn Lumber. Lately, he’s been working with the Product Team, and is involved with the remodeling of the our stores, as well as designing and updating our new signage. Russ helped with the fire pit project we posted in August, and now he’s back with another—a magnetic bottle opener, inspired by magnets we just started carrying at the Bellevue store.
One final note: We're not getting paid by the Seahawks, and have created this project as a fun way to celebrate the team.
Go for it, Russ!
Step 1: Imprint Image
This project is great because it’s completely customizable—you can choose any image (the simpler the better) to transfer onto the wood. All you have to do is make sure it’s sized to fit the dimensions of the board. We used a 1x4 piece of white maple cut to 10". You can cut this at home, or ask it to be cut at your local Dunn Lumber.
If you’re planning on using the Seahawks logo like I did, download and print the PDF before getting started:
To start, measure and align your image, keeping in mind the space the bottle opener is going to take up. The image I made had a rectangle around it that was 3 ½” tall—the same size as the board. This allowed me to easily align the image on the wood.
Once the image is in place, tape it down and impress over it with a ballpoint pen, using an Irwin speed square to help with straight lines. When outlining the image, use lighter pressure at first, then go back over your lines a second time more firmly.
When finished, remove the bottom piece of tape but keep the top piece in place, in case you need to go back and make deeper lines.
Step 2: Outline with Wood Burner
To create the outline, use a wood burner. I set the word burner to 75% of its maximum power. This allowed me to make faint lines at first, moving the tool quickly. To create the lines seen here, I went back over the same lines a second time, moving more slowly.
Step 3: Fill in with Circular Tip
Fill in the outline with a flat, circular tip, using the same power setting as in the outlining step—75% the maximum power. Kirsten used small circular motions for a semi-consistent look. Tilting the tip to reduce its surface area worked well for smaller areas that needed shading.
Step 4: Apply ¾” Magnets
Once the Seahawks logo is complete, the next step it to attach the magnets. These magnets are available through the Dunn Lumber website, or in store at our Bellevue location. The first set we'll complete are the magnets that will hold the opener to your chosen surface. As such, the magnets should be as close to flush with the back of the opener as possible.
Because there will be a group of magnets centered towards the lower part of the bottle opener (to catch the bottle caps), two of the ¾” magnets will go at the top of the opener, and the third will go at the center of the bottom.
Determine where you want the center of your magnets to be, then trace a circle around them to make sure the placement is suitable. Each magnet should be placed near the edges of the board, but no closer than ½”.
To make the magnets flush with the back of the board, drill a shallow hole that matches the depth of the magnet. To do this, hold the magnet up to the spade bit, as pictured. Draw a line on the bit where the magnet’s edge is, measuring from the flat part of the spade bit (not the points). Wrap a few layers of tape around the bit in line with the mark you just drew. This tape will act as a depth gauge so you don’t drill all the way through the board. Hold the drill bit up against the width of the wood to double-check the drill won't go too deep.
Step 5: Drill
Now it’s time to drill. As you’re drilling, be sure to stop and check your depth periodically, ensuring the tape on the bit hasn’t moved.
Step 6: Apply ½” Magnets and Drill
For the bottle cap–catcher, use six ½” magnets. I wanted the bottle caps to land in the center of the bottle opener. If it's too low, you risk the magnets not grabbing the bottle cap as it falls; too high, and the magnets get in the way of your bottle as you open it. In this case, the placement was also chosen based on the position of the image. We positioned the center of our cluster five inches from the bottom of our bottle opener.
The placement of the magnets will generate a strong magnetic field across the immediate and surrounding areas of the holes. A tight grouping helps keep the field strong, so the board of the opener can capture and hold multiple bottle caps.
For the bottle cap–catcher magnets, you want the magnets to be as close to the face of the opener as possible—⅛” is great. That means you’ll want to drill six holes that are each ⅝” deep.
To do this, follow the same process in Step 5: Take a ½” drill bit and measure ⅝” up from the tip of the bit. Mark with a pencil, then tape and drill.
Step 7: Set with Epoxy
The magnets tend to want to jump toward one another from a surprising distance. If they collide from too far away, they’ll shatter. They’re also surprisingly difficult to separate once connected. To solve for this, use Loctite Epoxy Quick Set. I like this product because of its fast setting time and the tip which mixes the epoxy as it comes out—eliminating a difficult and messy task.
Start with the ½” magnets first, placing three in each hole. The epoxy tends to drip after using it, so be sure to have a piece of paper or cardboard nearby. Squeeze a dime-sized portion of epoxy into each hole, then place a magnet and hold for 30 seconds. Repeat this step with the other two magnets one at a time to make sure the magnets don’t leap out toward one another while they’re covered in epoxy. An extra hand to hold the magnets down helps here—so does a tool like a pencil.
Repeat until each hole is filled.
Step 8: Attach Bottle Opener
Once the epoxy has dried, flip over the board. Center the bottle opener at the top of the board, and mark the position of the hole. To prevent cracking, pre-drill using a drill bit slightly smaller than the threading of your screw. Then, screw down the bottle opener. This bottle opener can be special ordered through your local Dunn Lumber.
Step 9: Seal with Polyurethane
You can leave the piece unfinished, or seal it up with an oil-based polyurethane.
Stick the bottle opener to a magnetic surface and crack one open for the big game. Cheers!
