Pipe Bowl Display Stands

It's feeling pretty good to kinda be back in the saddle once again and working on an actual project. Only this time, the work being done is in my "new/old" shop.

After moving everything....and I do mean EVERYthing....over, I was finally at a point in putting things away and organizing to actually have the room to make something once again.

Shawn, our Son, asked if I'd be able to make some kind of display stand for some novelty pipe bowls, and that's what this post is all about....the process used to do just that.

I'd made a rough piece for e-cigarettes to show him, and he thought it would also be nice to have a rack for his pipe bowls in the display case sort of like this, but with multiple holes for multiple bowls (I'm a poet and I don't even know it):

First thing to do was to agree on a size since space in his display case was limited. We agreed to do a tiered (only two tiers for this "experiment") piece with holes to accommodate as many as would fit in 20, or so, inches and 5 inches wide. The top tier would only be two inches wide.

Next, what kind of wood? I have lots and lots of scraps in my wood pile, but this had to look nice. It had to "fit" with the overall tenor of his shop, and it had to kind of set a tone for similar pieces to be made in the future for those buying customers of his.

We chose mahogany. It just so happened I had quite a lot of tongue and groove pieces of mahogany 3/4" flooring sitting right there in my shop - a gift from a good friend of mine.

The tongues and the grooves had to go through the "ripping" process on the tablesaw in order to remove them from all edges, and the smaller tier had to be ripped from an intact piece.

Once that was done, the real work could begin.

Next step? Cutting both pieces, on the chopsaw, to identical lengths:

Mind you, these pieces had been sitting around for quite awhile in different kinds of temperature and moisture conditions, so quite a few were warped and bowed. Hunting through the stack to find just the right pieces was a pretty good challenge because they're all kind of "buried" in the end stall of the new/old shop under all the stuff that has yet to be gone through and organized.

So, when I found these two pieces that "fit" together kind of seamlessly, I was pretty durn burn happy:

They both needed a little sanding....not much....but a little:

Have I ever mentioned how much I like my radial drill press? I really, really do....like my radial drill press, that is.

This thing is so versatile, it not only allows me to drill holes at an angle without angling the "table" the piece sits on, but it also allows me to move the drill head back and forth to accommodate the length of the piece being drilled into....up to 24, or so, inches.

The only thing is, I needed to clamp everything, and I mean everything, to the table in order to make sure nothing flew back in my face as I was doing any drilling. That....that right there....took more time than anything else to set up.

Did I mention before that I really like my radial drill press? Oh, yeah....I did. But I really, really do like this thing. And here's another reason why:

In the photo above, the mark for the very last drill hole is farther out than the drill head was originally set for. It was a simple matter to adjust the drill head a little farther out to accommodate this dilemma. Problem solved.

Well, after stressing and straining over all the holes that needed to be drilled, this is the result....a two tiered display rack for those novelty pipe bowls (Darth Vader here, but many others to be displayed in like fashion):

Now, the two tiers need to be glued together and a finish applied. Gettin' there is half the fun!