Resawed all of the boards! A couple of them do have a bit of a bow, but I think it’ll be manageable: they’re either on a board that will be cut into multiple, shorter pieces, where each piece can be flattened separately (and each shorter piece will have less of the overall bow), or one long span that I can bend straight when joining to the rest of the table:

And a quick video of the process:

#wood #woodworking #gaming #boardgames #saw

This weekend I was able to get my “base frame” complete. That’s what I call the main “floor” of the table, the part that everything is built on top of:

The center is plywood and the frame around it is Sapele. Originally I planed on attaching the frame using splines, but after some contemplation, I decided not to. My worry about the spline is that you cut away 1/3rd of your edge, and then it becomes a weak point if you put too much weight on the frame (like leaning on it to reach into the center of the table). I went with with a hattrick of joinery methods for (hopefully) maximum strength: glue, biscuits, and pocket screws.

First I had to get a nice piece of plywood. My local hardwood shop had a couple sheets of mahogany ply, with a standard wood core (as opposed to MDF core). Mahogany is close cousin of sapele, so I thought it would make a great match. You’ll never actually see this plywood, unless you look under the table. I set up my tracksaw and got to work:

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These length guides by TSO Products are amazing:

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Then I had to cut out the corners for the legs. After thinking about the best way to cut them nice and square (I have horrible luck with jigsaws for some reason) I realized a couple of passes with a router will give me a perfect and clean cut all the way through the ply:

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I also spent some time beefing up my portable setup table, so that I can assemble this thing and keep it flat:

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After jointing and planing the frame parts it was time to attach them:

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Here I’m using a single playing card under each pocket screw to keep the top of the frame board even with the top of the plywood (the frame was planned just a tad thinner than the plywood itself.

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After driving in the pocket screws (which act like individual clamps pulling the joint closed and really squeezing out the glue), I wiped up the excess glue with a wet paper towel, and after three more sides the frame was assembled:

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While the glue set I used a trick to help keep the final finish smoother: I wiped down all of the solid wood with water:

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This gets any exposed fibers to stand up and then they’re cut off by the sander. This makes them less likely to absorb moisture and stand up over the coming months/years after the finish is applied. A side benefit is that you get a preview of what the wood will look like when finished:

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After an hour or so of letting the glue dry, I sanded down to 220 and it’s ready for finish!

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I’ll be finishing this thing in stages, rather than all at once when assembly is complete, as I usually do with furniture. Most of this table will bolted together to make it more modular, easy to transport in the future, and also to deal with wood movement. Because of the way it’ll be assembled, I’m going to finish each piece as it’s completed, before attaching to the assembly.

#wood #woodworking #gaming #boardgames

Now that the base frame is complete I can start adding stuff to it. First up is what I’m calling the “back”, which is the surface in front of you when you’re sitting down with the player tray extended. This is where your storage drawer goes:

First I joined and planed the backs and dry fit them to the base:

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Cutting the drawer front out of the back presents an interesting challenge: how do you cut a perfectly square piece of wood out of another piece? And maybe more importantly, how do you cut it out leaving a zero-width kerf so that the drawer fits and almost disappears when closed?

My solution was to rip the boards in half lengthwise, cut out the drawer, and then reassemble the remaining pieces into a single board again:

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I also took the opportunity to cut a couple of openings in the ends: one for the cupholder’s drawer slide to poke out of, and another for the spring latch that will pop open the cupholder when pushed:

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When reassembling them, I used an old woodworking trick to keep the pieces from sliding around while trying to glue them back together: You drive a nail or staple into one side and then snip it off. Pressing the other half together creates little dimples in the edge which holds them in place, even once they want to start sliding around when glued and you start applying clamp pressure:

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As the old adage goes: there’s no such thing as being too rich, too beautiful, or have too many clamps:

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Next up another dry fit to the base to make sure I didn’t make a huge mistake somewhere:

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Looking good! Now to drill some pocket screws to attach the back to the base:

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I cut a groove along the top of the back that will serve a dual purpose: holding game cards, and as a spill catch in case someone knocks over a glass on the top! The easy way to do this was to make 1/4” deep groove on the table saw, running the entire board through. However, the corners didn’t look great:

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I really wanted that groove to turn around the corner and continue. To make that happen I pulled out my chisels and cut a right angle to the existing groove:

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Then cut a little patch and filled in the part of the groove I wanted to eliminate:

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After gluing and sanding you almost can’t tell it was ever there!

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A small thing, but so far my favorite detail of the table.

Cleaned up the shop real quick and then got ready for BBQ and fireworks!

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#wood #woodworking #gaming #boardgames

The first coat of finish went on last night! I still need to add the web frame to the inside of the base, but that will be hidden under the vault floor and doesn’t need finish.

I use the same finish for all of my furniture, which I learned in my first woodworking class, known as the Sam Maloof finish. Sam was a famous woodworker who’s chair design you may recognize:

The finish is three parts that mix before applying:

• 1 part boiled linseed oil

• 1 part tung oil

• 1 part spar varnish

You can get nearly the same formula in a can of Sam Maloof Poly/Oil blend finish. It’s a beautiful golden honey colored finish that makes woods like sapele really pop. Another benefit is the ease of application: wipe it on, wait an hour, then wipe it off. Many other wood finishes are famously finicky: either you brush it on, trying to avoid brush lines, or spray it on, which needs a particular technique and a certain amount of overlap, and usually just sits on top of the wood and can easily scratch off. This oil finish sinks into the wood and even a scratch or a dent in the surface doesn’t penetrate the finish.

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I could finish the whole inside of the frame but again, it will never been seen, and isn’t needed to protect from fingers, glasses of water, etc. I will finish the entire bottom, but I’ll wait until the legs are in place—the support frame that’s under there now gets in the way!

The more coats of this finish you apply the more protective it is. Sam would apply 5 or more, but I haven’t noticed any visual difference after about 3 coats, so that’s probably the max I’ll do. You wait about 24 hours between coats to give the previous one a chance to fully dry. After the final coat, wait another 24 hours, then rub everything down with #0000 steel wool. Finally, apply a coat of Howard’s Feed ‘n’ Wax which gives everything really deep luster and smells amazing.

You can refresh the finish every year or so if it starts looking dull by doing another coat of Howard’s. The wood itself will darken over time, but still retain the amazing chatoyance in the ribbon grain.

#wood #woodworking #gaming #boardgames #finish #oil

I put on the second coat of finish last night, and it looks pretty much like the first!

I also picked up a big board of 5/4 poplar for building the web frame:

The board I got is 12’ long and 12” wide, but it’s going to get cut down into a bunch of 2 1/4” wide strips:

The web frame will make the base extremely stiff and help it not sag over time, since there is no center support, just the legs at the corners. Poplar makes a great choice for this because even though it’s ugly (usually a sickly yellow/green color) it’s still a hardwood, easy to work, and it’s relatively cheap!