Popular Post TheFatBaron Posted February 14, 2015 Popular Post Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 A coworker asked me to build him two game boards... one for Nine Mens Morris (the square board), and one for Fanorona. They're old boardgames, popular several hundred years ago, and popularized recently by a video game which featured them as fun little minigames. The boards are cherry and walnut. The box for the game pieces is cherry and maple, with the sliding top held closed by rare earth magnets. Both were finished with Tung oil and wipe-on oil-based poly. The game pieces are scraps of live oak - the black ones were dunked in steel wool and vinegar, and finished with spray laquer. If I had to repeat... first, I'd find a better, more reliable way of doing the grooves - even if it meant buying a small router and then I'd just just inlay. It was too much of a pain rounding all of those edges and getting the finish wiped out. I'd also re-plan it to make it easier to match up the lines on the mitered edges on the Nine Mens Morris board. Also, I'd look for alternate solutions for the game pieces. I wanted to show off the long grain of the oak, which rules out just slicing dowels. I used a 1" holesaw in my drill press to cut out 1/2" thick blanks, but honestly, that was a pain since hole saws don't cut clean edges. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted February 15, 2015 Report Share Posted February 15, 2015 Very nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted February 15, 2015 Report Share Posted February 15, 2015 Yes. Wonderfully intricate work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted February 15, 2015 Report Share Posted February 15, 2015 Looks great, must have been a lot of work ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cancelleri Posted February 15, 2015 Report Share Posted February 15, 2015 That's awesome! I love 9 Men Morris, it's a mini game in Assassin's Creed. I was actually planning on building a chess set and turning and carving all the pieces. That's a long term project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted February 15, 2015 Report Share Posted February 15, 2015 Excellent job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Kohl Posted February 15, 2015 Report Share Posted February 15, 2015 Love the sliding top very cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted February 15, 2015 Report Share Posted February 15, 2015 Very slick! Hard to guess the scale, but these look small enough to use as travel games. Maybe consider magnets in the boards & pieces to facilitate in-car play on the next set? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFatBaron Posted February 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2015 @WTN - the smaller board is about 7" square, the larger is 7x12". They were actually designed to fit in his messenger bag, so the idea was to keep them about the same size as his laptop. If anyone asked, then yes - I absolutely could do the magnet thing. I'm not exactly sure how I'd embed them in the boards (I imagine in the underside of the plugs if they're strong enough. @TC - this is one of the reasons I've wanted to pick up turning. I'd love to have been able to make more interesting game pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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