How to Make a Trophy
They say gifts given are more meaningful when they are made and when they come from the heart, rather than when they are bought with relatively little meaning at all. The same holds true for trophies or plaques or recognition of any kind. A storebought trophy is cool, but a homemade trophy from your coach will be a life long memory.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- Wooden block
- Old tools or car parts
- Nail and screws
- Solder gun
- Varnish or paint
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1
Cut a block of wood. It can be any size (2 x 4, 4 x 4, you name it), but make sure the wood looks decent. It can have knots in it, but it shouldn't be brittle.
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2
Varnish the wood by painting at least two coats of lacquer over the wood. If you like, you can also paint it a deep cherry finish, or any color for that matter.
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3
Scour the junk yards, your garage or shop, or the local hardware store for large pieces of metal (like ball bearings, springs, stick shifts, breaks, etc.) or tools.
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4
Clean the tools, if they are rusty, by pouring a little bit of vinegar over the rusted areas, then pouring a good amount of salt over it, and scrubbing with a rag or special tool.
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5
Through the bottom of the wood, drill a hole and insert a screw or metal rod. Glue it in with Gorilla Glue to prevent it from slipping.
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6
Solder the tool or metal part of choice to the tip of the screw or rod. For instance you may decide to use a tiny shovel if you are a volleyball coach and the person earning the trophy was responsible for the most "digs" that season. If you do not have a soldering iron, do not know how to solder, or decide against inserting a screw or rod, you can also simply glue down this object.
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7
Burn into the wood with a wood burning tool, or write on the face of the wood the caption for the trophy (i.e., "The Most Digs: 2008 Season", "From 1st to 5th in 1 second: The quickest player on the court" and the trophy can be a stick shift, or "Nailing Down the Most Threes" and a nail in the board.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Be creative. With this type of trophy you can stretch the reason for the award and much the actual tool applies, because everyone will have fun with it.
Make sure you don't use a tool that can hurt someone or leak any type of fluid.
