This was a very unique project.  The client, a wine and cigar afficianado, was looking for a way to proudly display wine at the dining room table, without having any drips causing damage to the table linens.  The client came to me and asked if I would be able to adopt practices used with my cutting boards while introducing unique properties that made it custom taylored to their interests.  He gave me a stack of empty cigar boxes (well, almost empty…I found one remaining cigar in one of the boxes!)  He asked if i could incorporate them into the design.  Honestly, at the time, i wasnt sure what i was going to do.  I sat on it for a few weeks.  The end result was a series of display platforms that are each unique; however, follow a consistent theme. In the series, i used Walnut, Maple, Cherry and a little bit of Mahogany.  Incorporating the cigar boxes took some thought.  Ultimately, I took each of the miniature cutting boards (6 1/2″x6 1/2″), rabbeted the edges and selected a portion from the sides of the cigar boxes to inset into the edges.  The cigar boxes are made of spanish cedar, which is a very soft material.  Very tricky to work with.  For the top, cut out a 2″ medallian from the top of the cigar box and recessed it into the top of the display.  I didnt want to use my typical rubber feet for the bottom, so i decided to recess four wine corks into the bottom.  They are finished with several coats of urethane and will hopefully be a wonderful supplement to his wife’s wonderful cooking at their next family gathering.  This was a fun and challenging project.  I am already working on ideas for version 2 of these so if you are interested, let me know.  Thanks for viewing.

At my neighbors, prior to delivery to the client

At this point, just a standard cutting board…What still undecided what to do with the cigar boxes.

Decided to cut the most telling part of the cigar box out of the middle.

In order to have a space to recess the strips from the cigar box, I used my dado blade and cut a rabbet into the edges, creating a recess.

Look closely to the left, you will see the mitered corner of the cigar box.  I continued this on all 4 sides and glued them in place.

Better view

Once the edge banding was done, the glue needed to set up before moving forward.

Next, was using a forstner bit to create the holes in the bottom to accept the wine cork feet.

This is the finished series.  Left to right… (Cherry, Rock Maple and Mahogany), (Walnut and Rock Maple), Rock Maple and Walnut)

In this picture, you can see the 2″ medallian, cut from the cigar box top, and recessed into the top of the display.

Here, you can see the wine corks, used as feet for the displays.