dsz123 - Crepe Spreader and Box

[ dsz123.net ] - Crepe Spreader and Box

Home
Old News
Road Trip
Projects
Images
Hybrid
Diversions
Search
Craft Day
Miscellany

Believe it or not, this started as a joke.

My P.O.S. wooden crepe spreader (what's a crepe spreader? see this) broke while my friend Abby was in town, and our emails for a few days after that involved some significant improvements to the design of the spreader.

My suggestions:

I haven't yet made a new crepe spreader, but I'm fairly certain the lathe will be involved (at the very least, the drill press. I mean, come on...). Maybe it should be brass? With its own felt-lined carrying case?

And her's:

I want an update on the status of the brass crepe paddle... though I think a wine colored velvet lining for the case would be classier than felt, because after all, crepes are pretty classy themselves. I can just see the weight of the little paddle sinking into a cushy velvet cushion inside a small dark wooden box that closes with a satisfying clump.

And who was I to argue?

I set to work on my lathe, and turned out this:

Some important points to note:

Yes, it's brass. Yes, it's overkill.
It comes apart. See:
The flat on the top part of the "T" with the tapped hole was milled on the lathe with my milling attachment.

Not to be outdone (by whom, I don't know, seeing as this was overboard enough already), I started making the case.

The basic idea for the case was to make a wooden box (of mahogany), saw it in half, and attach to two halves with hinges to make a case. This is what it came out looking like in the end:

The box construction is fairly simple - the sides are connected by mitre joints, and the top and bottom just glued on.

The sides were cut to length & mitred on the bandsaw, then cleaned up with a woodplane. The top & bottom were rough cut on the bandsaw, then planed to the correct dimenions, with a nice bevel put on the top with the plane.

I then cut the whole thing down the middle on the bandsaw:

Then I stained the two parts:

It just so happens that my friend Mike Szegedi has a small CNC milling machine that he was kind enough to use to engrave a small brass plaque for the top of the box:

After that was epoxied to the top and the brass hardware put in place, it looked like this:

Now, it was time to put the velvet in. Because I wanted a padded look & feel, I felt some batting was necessary underneath the velvet.

They just slide into the box, and aren't secured except by friction.

That's it! Would I recommend this or suggest that it's an economical way to a high-class crepe spreader? Of course not. Was it fun, and totally worth it to see the look on her face? Damn straight.