Support Local Artists - Drink Local Beer!

It has been a privilege to have the opportunity to combine my passion for beer with my passion for woodworking.  Here are some of my more recent tap handles. A huge shout out to all of the breweries for supporting local, hand-made products.

These tap handles for Freehouse Brewery, located in North Charleston, are made out of North Carolina cherry, maple and reclaimed heart pine.  These handles have gone through a bit of an evolution - the most recent version is wrapped in six stage process rusted metal.  

These next tap handles were made for International Wines & Craft Beer, a distributor in Alabama that carries small scale breweries. These are a simple design, made from reclaimed heart pine. 

And for some of my more recent work, the following handles were made for the newly opened craft beer store in Park Circle.  The Brew Cellar is a fantastic addition to the local beer community.

And finally, Wooden Skiff Brewing Co., out of Hilton Head. Hand carved out of cedar, hand painted with care, these are some of my favorite handles yet.

Keep an eye out on the Charleston beer scene this upcoming year. And again, much thanks to these awesome breweries for choosing local.

Out of the Ordinary

Over the past number of months, I've had the opportunity to work on a number of collaborative, creative and unique projects. Check them out... 


A piece of art for one of Charleston's newest restaurants, Edmund's Oast.  Collaboration with Bryan Deel.

Final product = wall art!

Another great project to come my way was a Christmas present for my fiance's mother. She wanted a cookbook stand, and this is what Santa made her...

Made from North Carolina ash, left over angle iron and flat stock and bolts from around the shop.

Lastly, a project very near and dear.  Freehouse Brewery commissioned me to make them a traditional mash paddle.

Carved from a 10x2x8 piece of hard maple.

Getting close.  Ergonomic handle.

Hand chiseling.

Final product, delivered to the brewery. The handle was heat treated (burnt a bit) to harden and help with flexing. 

Will post again soon - new tap handle designs up next!

Jockey Box Covers

It seems only fitting that I follow my last post with another beer related project. Friends at New Belgium Brewing throw awesome events all over the place, which necessitates the usage of jockey boxes (essentially beer dispensing coolers).  That's where I come in.  In order to jazz up the boxes, I was commissioned to create covers.  This was my first cover made for our local Charleston Beer Ranger.

The beginning of the argyle logo transfer.  Notice the tiny red bicycles!

Top of the jockey box cover.

Side panel.

Finished product.  Collapsible and portable.

A few months later, I ended up making 10 more boxes with a slightly modified design and different logos.  Check em' out...

So many boxes.

Hops!

Final product sans top.

Boxes were made with reclaimed wood from the Charleston area. 

Thanks to New Belgium for allowing me to participate in such an awesome project!

A plethora of tap handles!

For those of you who know me, it goes without saying, I like beer... a lot.  My formal training is in brewing, so it seems only logical that the order I get most frequently is for tap handles.  The following are some of the ones I've made for local businesses around Charleston.  The tap handles are made out of woods ranging from walnut, pine (reclaimed), cedar and maple.  Check 'em out!

Made for a friend; name of Garbee.  He's pretty awesome.

Made these out of walnut.  Hard to see, but they have a live bark edge.  One of my favorite places to get pizza - Extra  Virgin Oven in Park Circle, North Charleston.

River Dog  Brewing Co. handles made out of pine.

First handles I ever made for Advintage, a local beer/wine distributor.  Chalkboard paint backs.

Probably my favorite handles - made out of cedar for our beardy friends over at Frothy Beard Brewing in North Charleston.

Contact me if you're ever in search for custom, reclaimed tap handles!

A man and his porch.

Charlestonians (myself included) love our porch-sittin'. And any reputable Charleston porch must have good solid slope to it.  As pleasant as porches are for sitting and visiting, they're not quite as pleasant if you need them to function as a full-blown wood shop.

Only one answer came to mind... level the porch and do it in a way that, if, for some unfathomable reason, our landlord was less than enthused, I could quickly return it to it's normal sloping state.  

Construction commenced...

Before.  Notice the slope.

Framing out the porch.  Removable and allows rainwater drainage.

Added workbench/table.

About to take care of that lean.

Leveling complete.

Fully functioning work bench (complete with flora and area rug).

Storage.

Just to be clear...

Later addition.  Custom cigar box light switch cover.

 



 

So it begins...

I've been told by many that I should start a blog - at first, I was fairly resistant, as I'm not super tech-savvy.  However, after ruminating on the subject, I figured, what better way to share my work and ideas??  So for better or worse, here we go... 

My name is Aaron Lucas.  I reside in the great city of Charleston, SC and am a self-employeed "Maker of Things"/"Glorified Handyman"/"Artisan".  If you've read my profile, I specialize in wood, but do work with other materials.  I've had quite the array of projects over the past number of years and figured that I'd let the pictures do the talking. For the sake of keeping this first post short and to the point, take a look below at some of my favorites... These represent the end product, but I plan to document certain projects from start to finish.

Cutting board made of walnut, cherry and maple. 

Custom hand-chisled heart pine knife presentation boxes for Husk Restaurant.

Heart pine server station for Husk Restaurant.

Tore these bad boys out of an elementary school that was about to be demolished - on the left is the "before".  On the right is after I got hold of them. 

More to come, as I continue to figure this blog thing out... 

Cheers!