Update: Winners announced

Congrats to Allencarl and pkennedy who have won top prizes for our “You Want What?” contest sponsored by CustomMade.

pkennedy won the editors’ choice for a story about a lovely mahogany coffin for a frozen dead cat. Allencarl won for a request from a pastor for an electric chair replica.

Thanks to everyone who entered our contest.

————————————–

Original post from 2/16/2011

Well-over 50 unique stories of bizarre building requests were posted as part of our recent You Want What? contest. Sifting through all the entries was no small feat but we’ve narrowed down the field to five wacky finalists. Now it’s up to you.

Two winners will each receive a prize package worth more than $1,600, so be sure to read these stories thoroughly, and contain your laughter until after you’ve cast your vote in our poll.

You Want What? Contest Finalists

A Human-Style Coffin…for a Cat
Our first story came from user pkennedy, who posted a story concerning an odd request to build a coffin for a beloved pet. Now, while building a pet coffin isn’t unheard of in and of itself, the specs for the box certainly were. It was to be built of mahogany, complete with side rails and a fully lined interior. Oh, and did we mention the initial phone conversation with the client? It went something like this:

Do we make what?
Ma’am, were you trying to reach someone else?
Oh, I understand, the plastic ones aren’t proper for your pet.
Well, I guess we could do that for you. Let’s see.
How big is your cat?
You’re not sure – OK.
Where is your cat now?
In your freezer next to the frozen vegetables.
OK, can you take some measurements?
With those measurements, we build a proper coffin for your cat.
You are very welcome.

---

Roasting Spit for a Jet
Story number two comes from user MartinGoebel and concerns an epicurian family unwilling to put a hold on the fine dining while flying at 30,000-feet.

During certain Muslim holidays (Eid comes to mind), it is customary to celebrate over a meal of roast goat or sheep. A certain Saudi Arabian family for whom finalist number two was customizing a private jet interior, wanted to be sure they’d be able to celebrate properly while flying six miles above the Earth. Their solution? A “goat roasting cabinet” built specially for their private jet. Just another in-flight entertainment alternative. Pretty neat!

---

The $200 Toilet Seat
User LocoJoe wrote in with a story concerning a lucrative commercial contract that had him building aircraft toilet seats over the course of a few years! Specifications included paint selection, the type of screws to be used, mounting hardware–and everything had to be built within a tolerance of +/- 0.020. Ouch! But for $235 a seat, and an order for 200 of them, it was well worth the effort.

---

An Electrifying Experience
In order for them to be effective, pastors require the ability to deliver sermons that capture and keep the attention of their audience. User Allencarl wrote in about one particular pastor who commissioned him to build a realistic model of an electric chair–yes, an electric chair–for use in his sermons. Complete with all the bells and whistles, the chair is now used at wedding receptions as a gag on the unsuspecting groom.

---

No Way to Get a Good Night’s Sleep
User Vin68 wrote in to tell us the story of a carpentry customer who timidly approached him in hopes of hiring him to work on a “different” type of woodworking project.

The client asked for a custom head board and foot board to built for her bed. They were to match each other in appearance but there was a twist. The foot board was to be hinged at the top, in order to allow some oak sliders to extend up with holes drilled in them that would accomodate wrist restraints. That’s all we’ll say. We wouldn’t touch the rest of that story with a ten-foot pole! Yikes!

---

VOTING CLOSED
Voting ended February 24, 2011 at 5pm (EST) sharp!