Wooden Spirit Trophy

Our High School has the second oldest rivalry in New York State in Football. With that we have a trophy that gets passed to the winner each year. This year our schools started a Girls varsity Flag Football team and needed a trophy to do the same. I built this all out of Heart Pine. The football was signed by all the girls on both teams to commemorate the history of the first teams to start the programs.

• Heart Pine
• Wood Glue
• Band Saw
• Scroll Saw
• Table Saw
• Miter saw
• Router
• Dremel
• Orbital Sander
• Dowels
• Laser Printer / Burner
• Spray Paint
• Minwax Polycrylic
• EnviroTex lite 2 part epoxy resin

First I came up with a sketch of what I was envisioning. I began with the side upright pieces that would resemble flags as well as support the top. I drew the shape on the flat stock and then cut out the shape on the band saw. I then traced the cut out shape on another piece of flat stock so I would have two matching sides. After cutting both out I then used a Dremel tool to carve the shape of a thin flag on the face. The one on the left is carved.

I laminated two pieces of the Heart Pine together for the base. Using the miter saw I cut the bottom part of the base to shape. Using the band saw I cut the round portion out and then used a router with a half round bit to create the shape carved in. I notched the side out for the uprights to slide into. Also drilled a center hole to seat the football into.

I created a design in Photoshop to be used for the laser engraving. I drew out and cut the shape for the top. I used a router with a 45 degree angle bit to chamfer the top edge. I used a laser engraver to create the design. The wood is hard so I ran it through twice. To make the lettering pop I used black acrylic paint to fill in the burned design. BEFORE doing so I clear coated the piece with 2 coats of Minwax Polycrylic so the paint would not get in the grain. This way a wipe and a light sand with 220 sandpaper left a nice clean image.

Making sure the top of the flag uprights are level. The top is fitted with dowels to adhere the top and uprights together once the football is placed inside. The Football is test fit.

The letter representing each school is cut out of Heart Pine, painted the school colors and doweled and glued on to the flag uprights. The football is glued in with two part epoxy and the top glued on permanently.

I used EnviroTex Lite, a water clear 1:1 mix ration by volume epoxy resin used to coat surfaces. It cures to a long-lasting, high gloss coating. When cured it is very hard and protective.

The finished one piece trophy is rock solid. Engravable plaques are added to the base to keep track of the winner each year.