Wood Map Of Nova Scotia With Beer Caps

Hey there! Been a while since we made a map that was a little unusual and thought you might like to see the process. The kind we like…unusual. Although the last one was a very large Map of Long Island, and the one before that did have a fun twist. Still…always fun to work through the issues that arise when making something completely new and solve them. Then give yourself a pat on the back.

Jim got an email from a fellow Nova Scotian asking if we were interested in making him a map to display his collectors edition of beer bottle caps. Why yes, yes we are interested. Sounded like a great challenge. The customer was passing through our area and dropped off the Alexander Keith’s bottle caps, brewed here in NS, each have a town name in Nova Scotia on them and are to be placed on the wood map where the town is located. After a quick google search it seems these came out in 1995 and of course are hard to find as a complete set in good condition. Remember these came before the twist off caps of today.

He asked for the map to be 4 feet long and that would obviously determine the height. He also asked for a frame and backer board. So we worked it out and the frame is going to measure 54 inches long and 32.5 inches high.

On the computer, Jim worked out the sizing for the map and the location for each bottle cap.

We then printed out two copies, one to be used for cutting out the map and one for final placement of the bottle caps.

Next we headed out to the workshop to choose boards. The map itself is going to be cut from 1/4 inch thick plywood and painted, and he asked for the backer board to be weathered boards. Nice.

We chose a selection of 2 x 4s that were weathered on all four sides. That gives us four sides we can trim off these 2 x 4s to use for the backer board. Jim cut them down to size on the miter saw.

And here they are ready to trim.

Next we switched to the table saw and trimmed 1/2 inch off each of the four sides.

Still cutting…

A few of them took a little extra trimming to the sides so they would be flush together when assembled.

While Jim was setting up the clamps, I jumped on the sander, not literally, that would hurt. But I did give each board a good sanding with my eyes closed…

Time for glue!! Each board got a bead of glue from our soon to be patented glue bottle. JK.

Lastly for this backer board was clamping it good and solid. We added two boards to each end, one above and one below, just to give the end clamps somewhere to land while trying to keep everything level.

Now onto the map. We cut a sheet of 1/4 inch thick plywood the size we needed. Placed the paper copy of the map into position, made some strategic cuts with scissors inland in order to secure the map to the plywood for cutting. Then drilled two pilot holes to feed the scroll saw blade through, one on the mainland and one for interior Cape Breton.

We set up the extension board with rollers since this is a large piece. It helps support big maps while cutting.

Then we tag teamed the cutting. I started…

Then Jim jumped in to finish.

The customer asked for the map to be black and since we wanted the edges of the map black as well we decided to spray the paint on starting with the edges.

We did a hand sanding of the surface between coats of paint since the first coat always raises the grain making the wood rough. And we don’t want rough.

One more part of this project to build…the frame. Jim started by cutting the 2 x 4’s into 1.5 x 1.5 inch squares to the length we needed. Then used the table saw to cut away the inside corners.

And the miter saw to cut the 45 degree angles for the corners.

All four pieces got sanded before assembly.

…then glue and a couple of brad nails just to hold it together.

We predrilled holes into each corner for a long screw and we wanted the head of the screw to be countersunk as well.

Another quick sanding…

And with that all building was complete. We brought the frame into the house for a few days before paint. It is still cold in the garage. The frame then got painted black to match the map.

While waiting for paint and glue to dry we turned to the beer caps. These ones we are practising on are Keith’s current caps from our own personal 2024 collection. Ha. We saved a few to try out different ways to adhere the caps to the map. Thought the ones with the wood blocks was the way to go but found out it was stronger without. So no wood blocks, just hot glue.

Back in the workshop Jim assembled the weathered backer board and the frame, and also added an additional piece of 1/4 inch thick plywood to the back of the weathered boards. Then we attached the map to the weathered boards using brad nails in strategic spots that would be covered by the caps.

As a side note, we delivered firewood the other day and they had 2 of these sculptures in their yard. Sooooo cool.

Back to the map…only a few things left to do. First add a hanger to the back. This project is heavy. We used wire and screws. Next we stamped our makers mark on the back using a branding iron.

Time to start gluing the caps in position. I handled the glue gun…Jim placed them on the map. No one got burned. I’ll take the win.

Here it is complete.

This was a really fun project. It made me thirsty though. If you have a project in mind no matter how usual or unusual you think it is…we are your people.

Later.