Custom Tap Handle

2012 July

Now, my friend Mark has two kegerators at home and in several discussions with him we both agreed the chalkboard tap handles sold online were really cool, however they run $39. Being a man of DIY, I said, I bet I can make one and thought I could on the cheap.

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It’s off to Lowes I go… Down their wood isles I came across ‘table legs’. The gears started turning, so I started piecing some ideas together.

After sharing the ideas with Mark, he really liked this idea and said if I made it, he would buy it. And the dollar signs came falling from the sky like rain drops and ….not really, but it was definitely a fun concept to make and bunch of these and sell them.

My first draft, shown below, was pieced together using a trimmed table leg, square block that I routed the edges on, and a threaded insert into the bottom. Now, that specific insert was the first thing I saw at Lowes that would work…I didn’t bother looking further – at this point. Check out my later posts for the second ‘twin’ tap handle, to see a better insert…

Here comes the stain. Since Marks home bar is a darker wood, with a light red, I went with a Bombay Mahogany. This is only after the 2nd coat – 2 more and it would be dark enough.

Add the chalkboard paint and vuala..I now have a Chalkboard Tap Handle at only ‘an undisclosed’ cost, but definitely less than buying.