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Keith Beck
09-30-2006, 3:48 PM
After upgrading our power panel to a larger panel to support my future electrical upgrade in the garage... errr shop, we were left with an unsightly large grey panel in the utility room:

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j114/ldoforcno/DSC02984.jpg

When we had a smaller panel, we had a small store-bought corkboard covering it. Well, SWMBO wanted another corkboard to cover the new panel, so here's what I came up with:

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j114/ldoforcno/DSC02985.jpg

The frame is some free oak that I got in the form of a large timber and re-sawed. Finish is just Danish Oil. There's over 400 wine corks in it and no, we didn't drink all of those ourselves.

A close-up of the frame:
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j114/ldoforcno/DSC029861.jpg

No, it's not fine woodworking, but it's a creative solution to an unsightly problem.

Keith
Jim Becker
09-30-2006, 4:43 PM
Excellent solution! And it looks great, too!
Karl Laustrup
09-30-2006, 5:10 PM
Way kewel idea Keith. :cool: :) That is a great solution.

So where did you get all the corks? :confused:

Karl
Keith Beck
10-01-2006, 1:32 AM
Karl,

A lot of the corks came from a stash we'd been collecting over the years, some came from our next door neighbors, but the majority I bought off of ebay. I got a bit carried away with ebay, so now I've got a bunch left over. I'm thinking about making several trivets for gifts.

Keith
Rod Torgeson
10-01-2006, 10:14 AM
keith.....My daughter found a picture of that in an airline magazine about 8 to 10 years ago and then cut it out and sent me the picture. I made her two of them, one is about 16 inches square and the other is smaller. Then I sent them to her and she glued in the corks. Since then I have made a few for her for gifts and a couple for myself. I haven't made one as big as the one you made. Nice way to hide the panel.

Rod<---in Appleton, WA
Jeff Horton
10-01-2006, 10:20 AM
Thats the kind of thing that can drive a Home Inspector (me) nuts when doing an inspection and no one is home. :)
Charlie Plesums
10-01-2006, 10:44 PM
After making several trivets with whole corks, we found the idea works even better with half corks... larger area to glue to the panel, and less elevation.

Drill a cork-size hole in the end of a scrap, put a cork in, and run it through the bandsaw. pull it back and reuse the jig.

The disadvantage is that it cuts the wine-drinking excuse in half.
Keith Beck
10-01-2006, 11:06 PM
Charlie,

Are you saying that you cut the corks in half length-wise or across the width, so you'd have the ends of the corks facing up in the trivet? If it's across the width, I'd think you'd lose the one thing that makes this project so interesting and such a conversation starter - all the different labels on the corks.

Keith
Charlie Plesums
10-02-2006, 12:30 AM
We cut them lengthwise... so the labels look the same, but the show surface is only half as high above the backing.

Many labels are repeated 2, 3, or 4 times around the cork. For the 2 and 4 repeats, the cutoff is just as good as the original cork. In some cases the "scrap" side doesn't have as pretty a label, but still is good as a filler (some corks are shorter, and need partial cork fillers in a pattern)