Gayus Wood

Clipboards

A friend gave me a clipboard last year for my birthday. It was really nice, but small. More than likely she couldnt afford one that was hand made and would hold an 8.5 by 11 sheet of paper, but it was BEAUTIFUL anyway.

I thought that I could make them too. For Christmas I made wine bottle stoppers for family members...well, for everyone that was of legal drinking age. For 3 nephews I intended to give clipboards. But I ran out of time, so I gave them "IOUs".

I finally got around to making the clipboards. Milled up strips of sycamore, cherry, and walnut, then arranged them in pleasing patterns. Edge glued them, then ran them through the planer until they were all the same thickness.

I made one of these for one nephew:


and two of these for nephews that are brothers:


Sanding, staining, and finishing followed.


For clips, I went to WalMart and bought 3 clipboards made of masonite...1 buck each. The clip was riveted to those. I drilled out the rivets and threw away the boards. I attached these to MY clipboards with short, fat screws.

Here is the first one finished (sycamore/cherry/walnut/cherry/sycamore):


and the other two (sycamore/cherry/light sycamore/walnut/light sycamore/cherry/sycamore):


I am going to hand deliver the first one later this week. The other two will be mailed. And yes, even though it is June, I will wrap them in Christmas paper.