This weekend I started on the table leaves. First step was to break down the boards into 4’ sections:

Next was cutting them to approximate width, and in some cases cutting an angle into the board to get the grain as straight as possible. The simplest way was to attach a long wedge to one side:

• 
• 
• 

Then I matched up boards in pairs, trying to get a similar grain pattern on each, and marked them with the trusty Cabinetmaker’s Triangle:

Next up is dry fitting them in clamps to see how well the two edges pair up and to get the boards as flat as possible across their width:

• 
• 

Ideally you want no light showing between the ruler and the wood. I only need one side flat, which is the side that will be down for the first pass through the planer (the planer has a cutter on the top, which will then make that surface flat and parallel to the face that’s down on the bed). It’s good that I only need one side flat because the boards weren’t exactly the same thickness to start with (here you can see a little light on the backside):

Ready for glue, I lay down a strip and then smooth it out using my finger, “nature’s glue spreader” as one of my woodworking teachers called it:

• 
• 
• 

Into the clamps:

After a couple of hours they come out of the clamps and go into the planer:

So smooth!

Now I trim the boards to length and width:

All 6 are ready!

A quick fit on the table to make sure I didn’t make a huge mistake somewhere:

The last board doesn’t fit yet: I haven’t cut the 1/2” rabbet that’s going to allow each board to overlap each other. Once I do then all 6 will fit (hopefully).

Tonight I got the table leaves to fit and cut the rabbets on each lip to get them overlaying each other. Right now there’s about 1/16” gap between each to give a little room if the wood expands. We’ll see what happens in the summer!

I put a bit of mineral spirits on the boards to check how they’d react to light and swapped a couple boards around to get a nice consistent look across all of them:

I may put a thin slice of weather stripping along the groove to make it even more water tight to prevent any spills from getting through to the actual play surface:

I’ve been worried about the table leaves sagging over time: they’re 42” long which is quite a span. Not to mention when they have an entire Thanksgiving meal sitting on top! I had the idea of inserting something along the length to help support them. After a trip to Home Depot I found some C-channel steel: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-2-in-x-1-in-x-36-in-Plain-C-Channel-800187/204325591

This stuff is way more resistant to bending than the wood itself, and the two of them combined should eliminate any sag (with or without a 20 lb turkey on top). I could have just bolted the steel to the underside of the leaf but I wanted to minimize the added height if at all possible (anything on the underside is going to protrude down into the vault and limit how tall something can be left on the game table with the leaves on top).

I decided to route a channel into the bottom of the leaves so that the “legs” of the C-channel could be embedded down inside the wood:

This ends up with only 1/8” protruding down into the play surface.

I originally planned on routing a 3/4” grove along the length and actually countersinking the whole piece of steel into the wood, but after cutting the two deeper grooves, the wood thickness at that point would be less than 1/8” and, as we’ll see in a moment, wasn’t ideal.

I started with the intention of routing the countersunk version:

As I cut one of the side grooves I could suddenly see daylight through it!

When I was adjusting the router I accidentally set 0” depth at the depth of the groove that I had already cut instead of the surface of the leaf. That meant I was cutting about 1/8” too deep, which went clear through the wood!

So I abandoned the center 3/4” groove idea and just went with two channels deep enough to sink the legs of the C-channel, leaving the 1/8” thick spine proud of the surface.

But now I had a big hole fix. After digging around in my scrap pile I found the exact piece of wood that was cut off the end of this board, so I could cut a section out that was exactly the same grain pattern:

I squared off the ends of the hole:

And then cut my patch to slightly oversized:

• 
• 

It’s pretty hard to get a patch to exactly match the size of a hole like this, so instead we cheat: we make it slightly oversized but then taper the sides so that it wedges itself into the hole. The easiest way to sneak up on a fit like this is with a handplane, but planing something this small is near impossible. Instead I clamped my handplane upside and then slid the wood over the blade instead, taking slightly angled cuts along the sides (be very careful with your fingers when you’re doing this technique!):

And then I kept taking a swipe or two until I snuck up on the fit:

• 
• 

And then glued it in place once I was about 1/16 proud:

After the glue dried, a couple of swipes with a block plane and some sanding and I can’t even find the patch!

• 
• 

One of my favorite woodworking axioms is about the difference between a master and apprentice woodworker: it’s not that the master never makes mistakes, it’s that they’re better at hiding them!

As for the steel, I drilled and countersunk three screw holes in each span of steel, then spray painted them matte black:

And with the grooves cut the steel drops right in:

• 
• 

Next up, the leaves are ready for sanding and finish!

Everyone’s favorite part, applying the first coat of finish! It’s a lot of work, and messy, but it sure is satisfying seeing the color change of the raw wood as soon as the finish touches it:

Here’s a timelapse of the other 5:

After waiting an hour I wiped any excess finish off and now I let them rest for 24 hours before applying the second coat.

Last night I applied a coat of Feed ‘n’ Wax and put the leaves on the table! I attached the steel C-channel to the undersides, and added a strip of 1/4” wide by 1/8” thick weather stripping to each edge. This is just one more layer of protection in case something spills on the table and it makes its way to the seams between leaves:

• 
• 

The leaves are definitely on the lighter side compared to the rest of the table, but I’m liking the contrast. They’ll darken over time, but will probably always remain a few shades lighter:

After re-making the play surface this weekend I’m going to work on the dice towers, and then this project is officially complete!

The past couple of weeks I’ve started thinking about matching chairs…I’ve got some ideas, so I might start working on those shortly after. After I take a little break from building! 😅