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Scrap Wood Coasters

Wooden drink coasters are a great thing to make with scrap wood. DIY scrap wood coasters can be made in lots of different ways with lots of different results. Whether you glue up a bunch of boards and then trim them down, or you make them individually, wood coasters are always nice.

Scrap Wood Coasters

I wanted to make a wood coaster for my brother. He recently sent me a photo of his desk and he was using a receipt as a coaster. Not good. I used scrap poplar from my DIY mid-century crib build to make something he’d use.

Scrap Wood Coasters - Charleston Crafted

Cutting the Scraps

Obviously, you could just cut some 4″x4″ pieces of wood, sand them down and have a coaster. But I wanted to make this unique and a little special.

I cut five pieces of wood to three different widths. The most important thing when making wooden coasters is to make sure all pieces are flush. If you have a planer, that make it easy. If not, you can used a table saw for exact measurements and sand it down.

Scrap Wood Coasters - Charleston Crafted

I glued up the five pieces of wood with the grains going in different directions. Then I let it dry, then sanded down.

Scrap Wood Coasters - Charleston Crafted

Personalization

In order to make this coaster personal, I used my Dremel Stylo+ that I won at the Haven Conference to carve my brother’s initials. The Stylo+ feels like a thick pen in my hand, so I have a lot of control over the carving. I traced his initials on the wood and then lightly pressed the Stylo+ against the wood to carve them out.

Scrap Wood Coasters - Charleston Crafted

Finally, I needed to stain the coaster. Using one stain on the whole thing would have been easier, but less dramatic. I alternated with Rust-Oleum Varathane Early American and Worn Navy and used painters tape to seal the lines on each piece.

Read our full review of Early American wood stain by Varathane!

Scrap Wood Coasters - Charleston Crafted

I added a piece of felt to the underside of the coaster so it doesn’t scratch anything and it was done. I love how it turned out.

Scrap Wood Coasters - Charleston Crafted

My brother’s initials really stand out on the scrap wood coaster thanks to the stain. The colors match his style and now he can be a real adult. Next time, I think I’ll glue up more wood and slice them down to make several at a time, but this one is custom and unique.

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