Cocktail Smoker

Using 1” thick wood is great for this project. Choosing a hardwood is ideal because it will not char and burn as easily as a softwood does. I went with walnut but oak is another popular choice.

Use the instructions provided in your Milescraft CircleGuideKit™ to set-up your small circle router jig to prepare to cut out a 4” circle. Be sure to set the jig to cut 4” as the “I” or inside diameter as seen on the measurement scale on the jig. The “I” is the measurement of the piece you will yield when cutting out a circle.

You’ll want to secure the wood you selected down to a piece of scrap using double sided tape, and secure the scrap piece to the workbench to keep everything secure. Using either a trim router or a plunge router, cut out the cocktail smoker making shallow passes and clearing the sawdust in between passes.

You’ll need to secure the circle back down to the scrap piece to drill the succession of holes next. Start with the 1-5/8” Forstner bit and either locate the center of the circle manually or utilize the DrillMatePRO™ centering disc. Drill the first hole 1/2” deep. Use the depth stop on the DrillMatePRO™ or drill until the top of the cutting head is flush with the wood if using a drill manually. This hole will hold the smoker chips.

Next, drill a 1/16”-1/8” deep hole using the 3/4” bit. This will hold the mesh filter. Lastly, drill a through-hole with the 1/2” bit to allow the smoke to do its work on the cocktail.

Add a round-over profile so that the smoker feels good in hand. Sand to 150 grit. Remove the sanding dust with a tack cloth and apply a food-safe oil or conditioner.

Finally, you can insert the mesh filter into the 3/4” hole and it will be a tension fit. Give the oil a few days to cure and then enjoy using your cocktail smoker. Place a pinch of smoking chips into the smoker, use a culinary torch to light them for 5-10 seconds. Let the smoke penetrate the beverage. Enjoy!

Thanks for following along with this tutorial here. Hopefully this was a great experience for you and helps you to build out your shop and your skills, all with a little help from your friends at Milescraft.

Additional Resources:

Everything I used from Amazon

This tutorial was provided by Christy Miller, with Oak Hill Millworks. Follow along with Christy for more woodworking and Milescraft content at @oakhillmillworks.