Show us your CUSTOM wood tap handles!!

I've seen only a few threads on here for custom wood tap handles and would like to see if we can compile some pictures into one thread. I think Nostalgia is the only one that I have been able to find. They are beautiful but i'd like to see more ideas!!! Please post them up here if you can!!

Thanks!!

 

Here's my Georgia Tech handle:



Here's my Carabiner:



Here's a BMW handle:



These were all made by a buddy of mine. Cheers!

 

I became an Uncle today! I made a batch of beer and this tap handle to Celebrate "It'lls" arrival. We were calling the baby "It'll" because they didn't discover the sex of the baby and we all kept saying "It'll be a boy" or "It'll be a girl" or "It'll have 6 toes on each foot" and that sort of thing. Just stuck!

SO I made this tap handle and got some chalkboard paint and voila, It'lls First Ale!

 

Congratulations!!

 

Not wooden but pretty nice anyway - my brother in law had access to a really nice machine shop.

 

Here's a custom wood tap handle we're working with now. It's got interchangable inserts with magnets in the handle and magnets in the inserts. Why both? So you can stick the unused inserts on your fridge so you don't lose them like I do. It's made of hard maple with natural wax finish.

John
Custom Wood Beer Tap Handles for Any Occasion | Best Brew Tap

 

Our Prototype

 

A friend of mine carved these for me.

 

I really like the question mark and custom carved heads.

Here is another for the collection...laminated wood. This one is heartwood poplar, maple and walnut. I have some glue-ups with cherry in them I'm saving for a very special idea...

 

cloisonné enamel inlays, figures poached from mayan calendar. osage orange and walnut. custom made by my father.

 

Dinnerstick...those are incredible! Can I ask how long it took him to make those?

John

 

I'll have to see if I can dig a few more up, but I always liked my "whatever I can find lying around" approach... crown moulding, a bit of that plum tree I cut down last summer, a broken hammer handle... These are all old ones from 6-8 years ago I just dug out of a bin. O.G., F.G. ABV, IBU, etc were always scrawled on there somewhere.

 

not long. photoshopped up the designs. cut steel plates. enameled black at high temp. cloisonné (yes i did cut and paste for the é) effect done by bending copper wire to form the shapes, then filling in with colored enamel. baked again to set the wire and enamel, epoxied into the wood? not sure about the last step. he also does enamel silk screening by separating colors in photoshop, printing each color to a transparency and using it to mask a photo emulsion screen, sifting enamel through the aligned screens one color at a time. pretty cool. pm me if anyone wants custom enameling! he's retired and up for it. based in new england

 

Not wood, but home made, these were done before I began home brewing:

 

how do you all attach these? I see some with just holes drilled in the wood. Is the wood threaded before screwing on? What size hole and threading? I assume the wood threading might wear after changing the handle a few times. Any tips on getting it tightly screwed while facing forward?

I see metal screw in pieces for sale to custom make handles, but it sounds like the reviews all say they aren't a good size and may crack the handle. http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/tap-handle-insert.html

 

I don't have my keezer built yet, but I got these for xmas last year. My Mom's hobby is hobbies, so she knows how to use a lathe.





And for my work-in-progress house maple brown ale "Beaver Piss," she made this one.

 

For direct attachment, you can use an insert. They come in 3/8" thread that's common to most faucets. Yes, they do tend to crack the handle in harder or exotic woods. I remove some of the thread on the outside with a belt sander. You could also do this with a dremil tool. Be careful, they'll get hot when you do this. With some of the more agressive thread removed, they insert better. If they are loose, 5 minute epoxy works well to hold them in place (epoxy is about the only thing that works well on oily exotic woods we like to use).

Another way: 5/16" hanger bolts and adapter ferrules work well. Hanger bolts have lag thread on one side and machine thread on the other. Ferrules typically have 5/16" thread on one side (the tap handle side) and 3/8 thread on the other (faucet side). Hanger bolts are available at fastenal and ferrules from a home brew store. Hope this helps.

R,
John
www.bestbrewtap.com

 

Not as fancy as the ones posted here but for $6 each, not bad.

 

ya. burl walnut, brown ebony, lignum vitae, bloodwood, black and white ebony.

 

Here are some examples of some made for groomsmen gifts.

Here is another example with a family crest top.