Snow-capped Mountains

Happy New Year to each of you!

Now that Christmas is over, I can share posts about some of the gifts I made this year.

I really enjoy making gifts to give to friends and family. There is a sense of accomplishment when I can make something unique to give away.

Several of my sons enjoy skiing and snow boarding, so the mountains are a place they like to go in the winter. Hiking and taking photos is another draw of the mountains for them. So, for each of my sons, I made a set of wooden bookends to look like snow capped mountains.

I had seen something similar in a magazine. However, that photo showed only a single mountain on each side supporting the books. My original thought when I saw this was that a 2″ thick hardwood board would not hold up books very well. So, after some thought, I came up with a design for making some more useful bookends.

Unfortunately, I did not have any wood the right size stored in our basement, so I made a trip to Menard to purchase some oak.

Supplies:
2″ x 4″ x 6′ red oak $28.59
1/2″ x 4″ x 4′ red oak $4.69
Various shades of stain, White Acrylic Paint
Polyurethane sealer – these I already had, but can be purchased at any craft or hardware store for about $3.00 each

Total cost was about $9 per set of bookends.

Using a circular saw, I cut six triangles out of the oak boards for each pair of bookends.

two 4″ x 8″
two 4″ x 6″
two 3″ x 5″

The cut boards were then sanded smooth with an electric detail sander. Wood glue was spread between the boards and they were assembled with the smallest triangle placed between the other two sized. Being careful to make sure the bottoms and backs of the boards all lined up even, the boards clamped together and the glue was allowed to dry overnight.

A coat of stain was applied to the entire surface of each bookend. I used four different shades of stain to make each set of bookends unique. Three coats of white paint were used to create the snow caps, and the entire project was sealed with polyurethane. Rubber anti-skid 1/2″ cushions was added to the bottom of each bookend and the projects were complete.