Mug warmer/bench caddy…and bonus item for 2024 Surprise Swap

I was drinking coffee in the shop, thinking about what to make Tony for the 2024 Surprise Swap. Deep in thought, and doodling a bit, my coffee got cold…and my drafting pencil ended up out of lead. Which lead me to an interesting thought…cold coffee and lost pencils are not my favorite things…maybe that was an idea for the swap?!? 

What I drew up was a desk top pencil caddy, with a mug warmer. After ordering up mug warmer from Amazon, I started by cutting up some pieces of sapele, walnut and maple for a segmented bowl sized for the mug warming plate, with a feature ring for a little snaz. Got it all glued up using the lathe and my Cole chuck. I glued on a chuck block, but just couldn’t get it to square up, so I squared everything up in place using the disc sanding plate I made, then glued on another chuck block. This was finally square enough to turn, so away we went! It turned pretty easy, and I’m happy with how the feature ring came out. Then I used a vac chuck to turn off the chuck block. 

I cut an opening vertically down the front for the mug handle, which was a bit of a trick to not damage the bottom plate but keep machine-straight lines. After that, I drilled and chiseled out a space on the back/bottom for the power cord. Then I sized and drilled holes around the rim for pencils and a couple sharpies. And since I lose my little 6” rule regularly, I carved in a little slot for one of those as well. Some laser work to decorate it up and finished with some Odie’s oil. I used a couple dabs of silicon to hold the warming plate in place and control the cord after it was all said and done…but evidently I completely failed to take the standard ‘end of project glamour shots’!! Dumbass…
 

I was feeling pretty good about it, but an issue with mug warmers is they really need a flat bottomed mug to work well. I wasn’t sure Tony would have one, so I found one I kinda liked and lasered it up a little for him. The mug warmer has a light ring on it that comes on when it’s active, so it’s easy to tell when it’s on…the only pics I have of that were during fit up, but I’ll post them anyway. 

I was thinking about what to do as a bonus item as I was working on an unrelated project…one with weird miter angles. That glue up was a pain, than I remembered I’d seen a Shaper Origin file for an ‘odd angle clamp block’. I figured I’d give it a shot. They’re simple, just cut from scrap ply, but the concept is cool. It’s easier to show than to explain it all but, basically, the odd angle clamp blocks give an in-line purchase point for the clamp to bite on, regardless of the angle of the miter. The round sides are for infinite angles, the triangular sides are cut at 45° which allows for 90° corners. Anchoring the blocks to the side of the pieces to be glued keeps them from slipping. I decorated up the set I made for Tony, and made myself a set as well! Simply finished with BLO.

In retrospect, a thin strip of adhesive sandpaper might be a good idea to increase ‘gription’ on the inside of the block…

Anyway, I had a good time making some items I wouldn’t normally make, and hopefully Tony enjoys them!