Single Bottle Balancing Holder

You've seen them before in wine shops or at friends' houses - those cool wine holders that balance a wine bottle above the table. How do they work, and how do you make one for yourself?

First off, the physics of the thing. In order for something to balance say on a straight pole, the center of gravity would need to be directly over a pole. If you were jumping on a pogo stick, you would need to be right over the stick to stay upright. If you leant over, you would fall.

The same holds true for a bottle. You need to find the center of gravity for the bottle of wine, and balance over that center. So far, so good. This works for a straight pole, but what about something a little less likely to tip over? For that we go with a board, with a holder for the neck.

This version still balances the bottle over the same center of gravity, but this time there is a secure collar around the neck of the bottle, and more surface area of wood touching the table. This makes it harder to knock over. Simple, hmmmm? What's even more simple is that there's hardly any work in making one of these.

The design involves some simple geometry. Say you go for a 45 degree angle. Cut a piece of wood so that when the neck sits in the neck collar, the base of the piece will be beneath the center of gravity of the wine bottle. Cut the base at 45 degrees. Now measure up to the neck hole - You want the bottle to stay parallel with the table. Cut the neck hole at a 45 degree angle too. Now lop off the top at whatever height looks good to you.

You can paint the piece of wood or stain it, or carve it a bit into interesting shapes. Let your imagination run wild!

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