Woohoo! Terrible opening pun aside, check out what I found in the old guest house at my parents’ place. A quick Google search told me this is a vintage Foley bottle opener from the 50s. If that doesn’t mean much to you, well…then we’re on the same page. But don’t get me wrong, the history major in me loves the fact that it’s at least 2.5 times as old as I am. Conservatively, if this thing was made mid-50s and popped just 5 tops a week, by now it would have cracked 15,600 cold ones. That’s 187,200 gallons of beer. If I could convert my truck (17mpg) to run the same on beer, I could drive 3,182,400 miles with that amount, enough to circle the Earth on a hypothetical equatorial highway 127.8 times. So, all that to say, I think this thing deserves better than some yellowish beat-up plastic sides.
With a little force the sides pop right off. The cool thing about these old bottle openers is that they’re continuous metal, rather than just metal at the ends with plastic in between (like you’d see today).
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- Remember that checked pecan wood from a few months ago?
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- Cutting it down to size. I’m going to cut three versions and pick which one looks best.
Now it’s time to drill some pilot holes, and then all the way through for the screws to fasten to the metal.
Holes drilled, edges rounded and sanded a bit. They look kind of uneven, so I’ll go back and sand them straight later.
Dry fit and ready for a (light) staining!
Whoa, a little too dark. Oh well. Time for a couple coats of poly with sanding in between.
things pat made 