DIY Beer Flight Sampler Paddle [How-To]

I set the glasses out on the wood and marked the locations before drilling.

The holes are hand drilled, I would recommend clamping your wood down to your work surface, with a large bit the drill can catch the wood and kick it around.  If you have access to a drill press, use it.  Know what size glasses you intend to use before drilling your holes, do a test fit on scrap wood.  Be sure to check how close the glasses will sit to each other.

This is scrap poplar left over from another project.  Any type of wood will work.

Tracing to ensure a perfect fit.

The base was from a 1×4 pine plank.

Not everyone has access to all the tools out there.  If you do not have a spindle sander, a piece of sand paper taped and wrapped around a ½ inch drill bit works well enough to sand inside the hole cuts.

This method worked well for smoothing the inside of the holes.  It also made the fit for the glasses absolutely perfect.

Prepping by sanding, the surface before gluing.

Apply the glue and wipe off any extra after clamping.

Apply clamps.

The more even the pressure the better the fit.

The edges do not look perfect, as the wood was not planed.  Allow the glue to dry, and then after trimming it will look much better.

Rough sketch of a design for the finished flight paddle.  I wanted to create something more organic and free form than the previous simple plank form.

Bandsaws can use a variety of blade sizes: ⅛ to ¾, depending on the machine.  This blade is about a ¼ – a narrower blade will cut more intricate curves.  Here is a video about blade selection from Laguna Tools.

Sawing the handle.

You can see the two layers of wood here – the contrast is an interesting part of this flight paddle.

After sanding the entire piece smooth, Chelsea painted the base of the flight paddle with black lacquer.  She used a dotted motif meant to be reminiscent of the lacing created by beer in a glass.

She painted the insides of the indentations for the tasting glasses as well.  After the paint was dry, she sprayed it with a few coats of a clear sealant.  The handle works perfectly and the four glasses fit snugly in their rings.  We already had this glassware, but I recommend this set of 5 oz beer taster glasses, as well.

Now all we need are a few brews to sample.