We spent Presidents’ Day with my brother-in-law and his daughters in Palm Springs. It was supposed to be a ski trip in Tahoe, but my 11-year-old daughter Grace had broken her collarbone six weeks earlier in Mammoth. Since the cousins were flying out to California anyway, we decided to hit the desert and spend the long weekend doing escape rooms instead. We also spent a good amount of time in the pool and hot tub, drinking many cases of lime-flavored Topo Chicos.
I drew the paddle shape on a computer, printed out a template and glued it a maple board, cut it out of a bandsaw, sanded to the lines, and rounded over the edges at a router table. Finally, I lasered the text onto both sides, using Grace’s recreation of the Topo Chico font for the back.
I liked the design and ordered six more Rockler bottle opener inserts. Not wanting to cut them all by hand, I set up the CNC to carve the rest and then lasered various designs onto the back. I even made one for my sister’s race boat, Barracuda.
