How to Make a Cork Trivet

Once upon a time, I made these.





















And this:

I started out making the corkboards for myself, and then as gifts.  At some point, my friend Lisa and I decided that we would try to start a business.  We emailed wineries and asked them to send us labels.  Some sent us a sampling of 5 or 6, and some sent us boxes or rolls of leftover labels. Thousands of them.  We went to local restaurants and asked the staff to save corks for us.  We enjoyed making the rounds to retrieve our corks, and to have dinner and a few drinks.  It was fun, but never very profitable.  I figured it took me about 10 hours to make a corkboard, and, priced accordingly, they didn't sell like hotcakes. 

Fast forward ten years to my basement:

Those are 66 quart containers.  I haven't had a lot of time to make corkboards, so I tried to find a quicker way to use up some of my cork supply.  Alas, the cork trivet.

It looks nice on the countertop when it's not in use, but it's also functional.  And easy to make. 

I bought a 60" x 8" x 1" board, and had it cut into six 10" pieces.  I stained them with some ebony stain I had lying around, and then gave them a coat of polyurethane.

I used wood glue to attach the corks.  Be careful to let it dry for a couple of days before you lean it against the wall, or the corks will slide. 

They make great, personal birthday or hostess gifts!  If you want to make one, and you need some corks, I have a few to spare.  Someday, I'll make some more corkboards and tell you how I do it.