Beer faucet handles

This is my very first woodworking sale. :-) I was asked on my fishing website if I could make beer tap handles shaped like fishing lures. While researching the hardware I discovered the correct terminology is “faucet” handle. The tap is the part that connects the keg to the hose.

Anyway, it’s not actually a sale per se, but rather a trade for a new fishing reel for my son. He will be very happy. He doesn’t know yet. I’m going to wait until the reel arrives before telling him.

The handles are made from knotty white pine dimensional lumber. I had to fill some knots after shaping. I also primed with BIN to keep the knots from bleeding through. The tap hardware is a dual threaded insert that surprisingly can be found anywhere. I bought them at Lowe’s. The inside threading is 3/8"-16. The outside threads are very course and fit into a 1/2" wide by 7/8" deep drilled hole. Rattle can paint and finished with epoxy topcoat, giving it a high gloss finish. I’m really not happy with epoxy. The more I use it, the more flawed it becomes. I need to find a substitute that will provide some level of protection that’s easier to work with. The epoxy results for these guys were acceptable, but just barely.

The inserts were the most expensive part, at about $1.75 each (I found them for $0.50 each on Amazon but couldn’t wait). So my total cost was maybe $2 each. Maybe slightly more. In return I’m receiving $120 worth of merchandise, so my new harbor freight lathe is already half paid for. :-) My wife thinks I got the short end of the stick after looking at pricing for tap handles on Amazon, but I reminded her it’s all about the smile on my son’s face. LOL…