Key and Letter Holder With .38 Cartridges

I needed a place to put my keys. It could have been simple hooks or dowels on a board, but that would have taken most of the fun out of it. I decided to visit my grandpa, who taught me woodworking, for ideas. After bouncing the ideas around, we decided spent cartridges mounted at an angle would make good hooks. The original plan was just that, but we realized during prototyping that the cartridges would make good holders for other objects as well. This is the result.

I hope you like the ideas in this. Also, sorry if some of the pictures appear off. I didn't think of making this into an instructable until about halfway through it, so I had to stage a couple shots.

Drilling the holes for the cartridges requires a 3/8" Forstner bit. This particular design uses the following:

• (17) .38 special cartridges
• (3) 6" long x 5/16" diameter dowels
• (2) 1/4" x 4 1/4" x 1 1/4" boards
• (1) 1/4" x 6" x 1 1/4" board
• (1) 6 1/2" x 2 1/2" 1/2" board

The back is the base on which the rest of the project is assembled. What we ended up doing was laying out the parts on the back until the arrangement looked good. There are six holes in the back board, four angled holes for hooks and two small through holes for the shelf.

The first picture shows a scrap block being used to check the height of the hooks. You don't want the hole to be too shallow, or the cartridge may lack sufficient structural support and begin to tilt down. Drilling the hole too deep isn't as much of an issue in that regard. Once you have a good depth, set the stop on the drill press so all the holes will be consistent.

The next three pictures show the angle jig. The first of them shows the fence for the bottom of the board. This way you can slide the board but still keep the same angle and height above the bottom. The other two show the block on the back, clamped at the right distance for the angle. As you can see, the precise angle is quite crucial to the project.

The last pictures relate to the shelf. The two small holes above the hook holes should be just large enough to pass the screws through, threads and all. This way, tightening the screws will clamp the shelf down against the back. A counterbore on the other side of the board provides a place to keep the head from scratching the wall. Just drill about halfway through the back of the board with a bit large enough to accommodate the screw head.

The shelf is for any small objects you want to store near your keys. We made it from a 1/2" thick board.

As the first picture shows, the shelf went through a few prototypes before it was ready to use. Don't just drill the holes in scrap wood and see if that looks good; stick the cartridges into the holes and place the shelf against the back to see how it looks. Once the shelf is attached, the back wall visually becomes part of the shelf, so placing cartridges all the way against it lends an uneven appearance. Moving them out away from the back provides a more balanced appearance. Finding the right distance is why there are three overlapping holes in the first block. The second block was to see how the chosen arrangement would look in a board of the same thickness as the final shelf. The last board is the shelf.

The letter holder consists of a U-shape in 1/4" thick boards and three dowels to hold the letters. The two boards in the second picture are the sides. The holes are 3/8" to accommodate some more cartridges. The curved corner on the sides was produced as shown in the third and fourth pictures. We traced the back of a cartridge to get the radius, taped the blocks together, and sanded the corner down.

The fifth and sixth pictures show the shelf, letter holder boards, and dowels ready to be stained. Naturally, this is optional. I like contrast, so these parts are all dark to contrast with the light back and the metal cartridges.

The last picture shows the assembly of the letter holder. The sides and bottom are being glued to a piece of 1/4" plywood for stability. The top of the plywood was rounded off to help it blend with the back.

The cartridges had been in a jar for who-knows-how-long, and they had all tarnished accordingly. A buffing wheel in the drill press solved the problem quite nicely. A dowel is a great way to hold the cartridges, but when the machine is running, you will want to hold your fingertip over the end to keep it from coming off.

Finally, we get to assemble the holder.

To put on the shelf, put a couple screws into the holes in the back, as shown in the first picture. Hold the shelf where it should go and tap the screws with a small hammer. This will leave marks like the one shown in the second picture. Drill the pilot holes there with a bit large enough for the screw shaft, but small enough for the threads to bite. I used glue to attach the shelf and used the screws as a permanent clamp, but the screws alone should be enough to hold it.

The cartridges are held in place by thin superglue. Put a small amount around the edge of the hole and twist the cartridge as you put it in. If you want the lettering on the back to face a certain direction, you will not have much time to turn it, so turn it into its position quickly.

To attach the cartridges to the letter holder, slip them most of the way into the hole before adding the glue. This is to keep the glue from getting onto the body where it would be visible. Attach the three cartridges on only one side first, then slide the dowels through the holes and attach the cartridges over them. Once they're in place, they will hold the dowels.

The letter holder is just attached with glue. As the picture shows, heavy weights on a board make a decent substitute for clamps.

Once all the glue is dry, a couple coats of clear spray finish and a saw tooth hanger are enough to finish the project. That said, you may also want to add rubber feet to the bottom of the back to keep it from sliding on the wall.

That's everything. I hope you like this project.