beer tap handles, help

[Tom Lathrop]

I need to make two beer tap handles for my son's birthday. I can do the work and have some good woods for the job but need to know of any details that would be helpful as I'm not familiar with these. I have the screw fittings for the base of the handles. Might want to add a bit of carving to the basic turned handles and have space for labels.

[John Keeton]

One thought would be to turn a recess on the end for an applied "cap." You could then turn some contrasting caps and and have them laser engraved for label purposes prior to gluing them in the recesses.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Tom - Welcome to the Creek!

I haven't turned any beer handles yet - so am looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

[James Williams 007]

I would start with a piece the size you want for a label and leave a section square for the label and turn above and below the square for the label and then you could add some carving around the label area. Is that clear as mud? I will try to find some pictures of what I'm talking about.

[Tom Lathrop]

Good thought James. I think I will do that and see how it works on the first one. I have some brown ebony harvested from a termite mound on Andros Island in the Bahamas years ago that should be nice. Polishes to a nice glow without any finish applied.

[Kirk Miller]

Tom,
I have little advice to give, but if you need someone to perform a few pull tests on those handles...........I am your man........lol

Good luck and post some pics once your done.

Kirk

[Maria Alvarado]

Another way to go would be to turn the bottom section as a standard taper (the part you will put the threaded fittings into) and the turn an interesting curvy shape on top of that. Then with your bandsaw, trim or slice the front and back off the top portion to give you a flat shape for your label. Does that make any sense? :confused:

[Tom Lathrop]

Maria,

It appears from websites that some are done that way.

[Paul Williams]

Some research at the local pub is in order.

[Maria Alvarado]

Field trip!!!!!! ;)

[Marc Lapointe]

Tom,

I just joined SMC this week and didn't think I could advise anyone due to my inexperience in almost everything BUT...I've made two tap handles and can warn you of a couple issues.

You need to find out if there is an angle to the faucet and the type of application. If it is a kegerator (like mine) made out of a fridge then the height of your tap handle could hit door. If it is a tower tap coming off the top of something, then no issue. I ended up tapping the hole on the bottom at and angle and making sure it tightened facing front. This allpwed it to go straight up/down to avoid interference. If the faucet has an extension so it comes further out away from the door, also no issue.

Good luck

[Tom Lathrop]

Tom,

I just joined SMC this week and didn't think I could advise anyone due to my inexperience in almost everything BUT...I've made two tap handles and can warn you of a couple issues.

You need to find out if there is an angle to the faucet and the type of application. If it is a kegerator (like mine) made out of a fridge then the height of your tap handle could hit door. If it is a tower tap coming off the top of something, then no issue. I ended up tapping the hole on the bottom at and angle and making sure it tightened facing front. This allpwed it to go straight up/down to avoid interference. If the faucet has an extension so it comes further out away from the door, also no issue.

Good luck

I saw the unit with two "regular " tap handles last week. The handles come straight up and I see no problem there. I found that there are angle ferrules that can allow the handles to miss a back wall or top interference but I don't need those.

One question: The adapter fitting my son gave me looks like a screwsert. Is there a danger of breaking the handle at this point? I don't know how much force is needed to operate the tap. Must I fit a ferrule over the lower handle? The handles for sale don't seem to have a ferrule.

[Marc Lapointe]

One question: The adapter fitting my son gave me looks like a screwsert. Is there a danger of breaking the handle at this point? I don't know how much force is needed to operate the tap. Must I fit a ferrule over the lower handle? The handles for sale don't seem to have a ferrule.

I tried what I think you are referring to a screwsert and broke two trying to get them installed because the wood was too hard (walnut and maple) and I did not want to make the hole any larger for fear it would not stay so i ended up using a t-nut that I recessed a bit and glued in. Both projects were really quick with only an hour into each so I was not fussy with the look. There is not much force invovled when used (unless someone uses it for stability on the 10th or 12th use ;))

[jason lambert]

I aggree with Tom research is needed! Go look at several of them bring a camera and know what you want before you turn. Pretty much there is no standard but you may want to consider intergrating a label of he need it. Or laser engraving is a good idea.