Building the Game Table

[wtnhighlander]

That's awesome! I'm a bit jealous that you have a place to go, that helps you manage tasks your own tools aren't able to handle.

[jwood314]

Thanks for the kind words, and going to go look at some water based finishes.  I am trying to figure out how to not affect the whiteness of the Holly, I want white, not a sort of yellow looking wood.

Day 5 of the Build

 

Great progress today, was a long day, 13 hours.  Started to flatten several of the veneers, however, ran in to a problem on the rosewood veneer, hopefully will get a solution.  Got the jug made for the inlay pieces, need 600 or so 1" x 0.25" x 0.25" little blocks of wood.  Got all of the inlay boards, jointed and cut down to 1" in width, and then started bandsawing away on getting them down to 0.25"  The they need light sanding on each side, then they get a fit check in a checker piece.  Lots of boring labor to get all of the pieces needed to finish that part of the table, hopefully, will be looking pretty darn cool when completed.  The big task completed, we got all of the tennons cut today, however, they each require hand finishing to fit in their mortis, so another few hours of work to get them sorted out.  We cut a practice piece, since neither of us have done a mortis and tennon joint.  We saw that the dado stack was causing tear out on the areas where we routed the inlay channels.  We ended up cutting around each joint with the sharper blade on the table saw, then used the dado stack to hack out the left over material.  Not wanting to damage the nice square work we had done, we didn't bring the dado all the way up flush with the original cut around the piece.  If the very long board got twisted while dado'ing, would ruin the nice joint.  Pics on this are attached.

 

Will have the base assemeblef tomorrow morning, and will cut the MDF bottom piece.  Hopefully will get the veneer design for this base done, and will probably glue up the veneer on Friday in the morning.

 

Getting closer to being complete with construction on the table.

 

Pic 1 - A Dalek?

 

Pic 2 - Cutting around the tennon with the table saw to ensure that we get a crisp, square joint.

 

Pic 3 - Or test tennon on a small cut off, and some test boards we did, making sure that our table saw cut would eliminate tear out on the rail boards.

 

Pic 4 - Our test tennon in an actual table leg!

 

Pic 5 - The jig we made to help us cut the pieces for the inlay.

 

Cheers,

James

 

[jwood314]

Day 6 of the Build

 

Not a lot of pics today, alot of the work completed isn't too sexy.  I spent a few hours this morning finishing up all of the mortise and tenons.  Lots of filing and chisel work to get them all to fit perfectly snug.  We purposely didn't try to get the perfect on the power equipment, with the idea to finish them up by hand.  No pictures of the tenons though :), they were kind of ugly but effective.  We got the rails and legs dry fitted, and measured, and we were 1/32 out of square on one measurement, pretty darn happy with those results. 

 

We got the top rails planed down to the correct thickness, we also strategized about how to go about getting all of the needed cuts into them.  I spent a few more hours getting the band saw squared out to do the cuts needed to do the bridle joint cuts on the top rails and did a lot of practice cuts.  After a bunch of practice and critiques of those cuts, felt confident enough to do the final cuts on the lumber going into the table.  The cuts for the most part came out quite nice.  While cleaning out the material in the middle of the I did cut a little too deep, it was hard to control the lumber to get the saw to cut, and then stop on  a dime not to cut where I shouldn't.  For the most part, it worked out quite well.  Where I made a small booboo or two, there is always timber mate ebony to fill in that gap.

 

The last part of the day was spent working with veneer.  Another new skill that I have not had much experience with.  I sort of damaged my Bolivian rosewood with the softening solution, but was able to recover and undo most of the issues.  I also tried using some BLO on some of the stained/oil removed areas, and it worked pretty well.  The super softener 2 worked amazing well on the other veneers I flattened, but the rosewood didn't like it at all.  I jointed and taped up the veneer that goes on the bottom of the table, out of site.  I did a lot of different techniques and practice with different cutting methods and trimming methods to see how they affected the veneer and what will work for me.  I don't have a lot of material though to practice on though, will make do.  Also spent some time trying to figure out how to layout of the veneer on the top of the bottom MDF sheet, this is the gaming surface.  I think I figured it out while running tonight, will see how it goes tomorrow, and of course pics of whatever I come up with.

 

The only pic is of the table dry fitted together.

 

Cheers,

James

[..Kev]

Good milestone!  It's on its legs!

[wdwerker]

Holly stays white under waterbournes. Some can impart the faintest cool tint  but a base coat of super blonde shellac will counteract that. I use M L Campbell products but I have heard good things about General Finishes waterbourne finishes.

Not that I think your primo wood needs any but the water based stains General makes have behaved quite well for me. Easy to handle and no smells plus reasonable prices.

[shaneymack]

It's coming along nicely James. Good work !

If you want a crystal clear waterbourne finish check out General Finishes High performance. Here is a good video GF put out discussing their four different consumer line products.

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk

[wtnhighlander]

Nice work James. I like the wood combination you have chosen. Looks like you will have a great table when its done!

[Chestnut]

Wow James, awesome work so far and awesome detail. I checked out your video on the star-trek models and those are awesome as well. This table build seems to be going quickly and as smoothly as a project can go. I'm excited to follow along as you build, so keep the detail coming!

[jwood314]

 

TIODS - Thanks!

 

WdWerker/ShaneyMack -Thanks, going to go pick up some GF High Performance tomorrow.  I really want a super clear finish on this, the wood is gorgeous and I want to minimize any alteration to the wood's color or grain pattern, but I need to protect it somehow, there will be small children eating on top of this and adults too.  It wasn't clear in the video if I can use High Performance over BLO/Shellac.  I will be using BLO on certain parts and areas of the table.  I want to BLO all of the inlay and the Wenge right next to it. That will darken the Wenge and have a higher contrast with the Holly, but then maybe GF HP over everything else.  Will pick some up tomorrow, also need to get a large square corner jig thingy at WoodCraft and do some testing with HP.  This sounds like the finish I am looking for, thanks for bringing this up and helping me out!!!!

 

wtnhighlander/Chestnut - Thanks!  I love making/building/creating stuff.

 

 

Day 7

 

Interesting day, first time to do any veneering.  Took 6 hours to get the burl all laid out and taped together, and took 4 people to get the glue up done and loaded into the vacuum bag.  Of course, the bottom, which no one will ever see, came out perfect, the top, which is the burl is 98% fantastic, there were a few wrinkle that will have to be carefully sanded flat, fingers crossed that there is enough veneer to do that on these few wrinkles.  Also, my vacuum pump decided to poop oil, up the vacuum tube, into the veneer bag.  Not the end of the world, since the veneer was going to be finished with BLO before shellac, and then some varnish, but a pain none the less.  Going to get some sort of valve to keep the oil from coming back up the tube on the next few glue ups.

 

Spent some time today testing how thin the planer can go, thin enough is the answer, we can get the thickness we need for another project we are running in conjunction.

 

Spent a bunch of time finishing out the bridle joints.  Need to complete the other side tomorrow and start the glue up of the top rail, after cutting out the rabbit joints.

 

Then spent some time to finish cutting out inlay chunks, and place them in the side rails, pics attached.  Will need to glue them in tomorrow, so I can start the sanding and finishing of the rails and other parts, pretty big step forward.

 

Tomorrow will be a short day, only 6 hours or so available to work on the table, due to some family obligations, but plan on getting the bridle joints done, with glue on 1 of them.  Glue in the inlay into the side rails, start to sand the veneered board and look at repairing some of the cross grain routing needed for the inlay on the legs.

 

Still need to cut the taper into the legs, they look to blocky without a taper.

 

Pic 1 is of the tape up of the large burl veneer sheet.

 

Pic 2 is a pic of the inlay in the side rails, need to glue them in and sand them flat.

 

Cheers,

James

 

 

[..Kev]

Inlay looks awesome!

[wdwerker]

Make sure the BLO has completely cured then shellac over it. After that you can spray or brush the High Performance over the whole thing.

[jwood314]

Is the de-waxed Zinnser shellac considered super blond?

[wdwerker]

Close enough, I forgot that DeWaxed is a good idea.

[jwood314]

Day 8

 

Spent 2 hours gluing inlay and 2 hours sanding the veneered board.

 

Day 9

 

Spent another 2 hours sanding the freshly veneered board.  Learned a lot about veneering, some do's and don'ts.  I used too much glue, unfortunately.  This caused wrinkling in the veneer, so it would have been impossible to sand it relatively flat without burn through.  So, I used the glue as a design feature!  You can see in the pic that the glue burned through in more than a few places, but it looks organic overall, so kind of cool, at least that is what I keep telling myself.  I can't go back and redo this, unfortunately I don't have time to.  Also got some good info, a much better idea on glue, put the burl on the flat side, and the more orderly grained wood under the mesh, almost all of my joints were perfect, except for glue poke through, where there wasn't any glue poke through, they looked great.  The good news, all of the future veneer will be much easier, smaller boards, and many fewer sheets that need to be taped together.

 

 After sanding, BLO'd the burl side, needs 2 days to dry before I shellac it.  I need to glue up the base on Wednesday, so this needed to be completed today.

 

Also got the rail inlay and leg inlay done today.  The legs took me quite a while, cutting all of the pieces that meet at the corners, my little miter box was giving me fits, causing a lot of bad cuts, and just overall trauma.  The pieces are too small to cut on a power saw, so just had to struggle through it.  All of the inlay has also been Timbermate filled, sanded and BLO'd, give it 2 days to dry before shellac.

 

I also spent a lot of time testing the water based finish from General Finishes.  It worked quite well.  I used the gloss and Aqua Coat to get the pores filled.  In one day got 8 coats down on it, all thin, and looked great at the end.  I also tried filling the pores with ebony Timbermate, I prefered the aqua coat, also easier to apply.  Your mileage might vary.

 

We started the bridle joints, but we had been at it for 13 hours, called it a day.  We did get the test male side of the bridle joint cut, and started on the table ones before stopping.

 

Pic 1 is of the veneered board with special glue accents!

 

Lots of work needs to get completed tomorrow.

 

Cheers,

James

[jwood314]

 

Day 10

 

A great day today.  Got the joint cut in the rails for the bottom board.  Finished up all of the bridle joints, they were painful.  Got the jig built to cut the tapers in the legs.  Glued up the top rail in a single shot, that was a good experience, will help with gluing up the base.  Got the band saw tuned up enough to re-saw a 7/8" board into two 5/16" boards, that was pretty cool.  Also cut the MDF boards for the inserts in the table.

 

The sad part of the day though was having to joint and plane a board of Holly.  Using the Holly to run inlay on the table, and wanted to do single pieces, and not splice them together.  Made some expensive white dust this afternoon! 

 

Pic 1 is of the table rail, the thing is dead on square, better than the base!

 

Pic 2 is of the boards for the accessories, the Rosewood will be cup holders and the Granadillo will be dice/counter/stuff holders.

 

Tomorrow will get the routing done for the table top, which is the rabbit joints and inlay.  Will glue up the base sides, cut the inside boards that square up the playing surface, will get 2 of the inserts veneered, cut the inside rails that square up the playing surface, re-saw some more boards, and get the card box design completed.  Looking forward to it!  The end is in sight.

 

Cheers,

James

 

[..Kev]

Good day's work indeed!  Having those tools tuned up and ready to go is a real time saver!

[jwood314]

Day 11

 

We worked 17 hours, no blogging, very tired. 

 

Day 12

 

Great day, lots of gluing complete.  We got the base of the table together, all of the inserts have been veneered and are getting their edge trimming glued on, we got better with each board, top rail was assembled and glued up, started the inlay for it tonight, lots of milling on lumber for box making, the accessories actually fit into the accessory rail!  Getting close to being complete, minus all of the finishing work, lol. 

 

For tomorrow, we will glue the top rail and side walls to the bottom portion, we want 24 hours on the glue cure before loading the table into the minivan.  Here is what is left to complete the table, 1.5 days to go!

 

Glue to and bottom parts together.

Glue last two inner walls to the top rail.

Finish sand the top rail and run the round over bit on it before gluing it in.

Bust out the lathe and turn the ebony insert poker upper.

Drill the hole in the drink holders.

Router out the dice holders.

Finish routing on the accessories.

Drill a hole in the table to hold the poker outer.

Finish gluing up the inserts.

Friday morning we will trim and cut in the overlap joint on the inserts.

 

I don't think I have missed any major item.  I have finish sanded the bottom half of the table, it will need some touch up sanding before starting all of the finish work on the bottom. 

 

Table won't be quite done before heading home, but construction should be 99.5% or so.

 

Marc's videos made this look super easy, HELIES!!!  LOL, it took two people, 13.5 days, and I worked 13.5 hours on average on the full days.  A lot of time was lost due to the small size of the garage, and having to move everything around for the next operation, but, it is still a ton of work building one of these. 

 

Pic 1 is of the inserts, with no border, just wanted to see how they looked on the table top.  This isn't a set up for target practice though.  I have some dark brown dye, I don't think I will use it though.  The other side of the inserts are rosewood, will take some pics of that tomorrow or Friday.

 

Pic 2 is a good shot of the table under glue.  Also, a good shot of the inlay, actually sanded down and looking pretty good.  The Holly strips are continuous, no breaks.

 

Pic 3 is the top rail with the side walls being glued in.

 

Pic 4 is the table under glue.  We are already storing stuff on that horizontal surface.  The size of the garage and not having a real work bench added to our troubles and time to build.  Not being able to clamp material while it is laying flat sucks.

 

Pic 5 is an insert under glue.

 

2 Days left!

 

Cheers,

James

 

[..Kev]

A lot of hours in but, it's paying off!  Really looking great!

[Cliff]

This is looking amazing.

[jwood314]

Thanks for the very kind words, encouragement helps to get up in the morning, eat some Aleve and start working!  

Day 13

 

Another 15.5 hour day, the pic says it all though.  I wanted to work on the inlay after gluing the top down, the clamps were kind of in the way, so, started packing up and cleaning up the garage.  The accessories are the ones we made, the little shelf will have a bowl cut into it, and we are still finishing up the wine holders and trays.

 

What is left to do tomorrow?

 

Complete the inlay on top and probably the sides, just Holly on the sides, so hopefully quick.

Fit the inserts into the table.

Drill the hole for the poker upper thingy - will require a new drill bit, we couldn't locate the extra long one

Lathe up a poker upper thingy and fit it into the table.

Pack the van.

 

What a great two weeks of construction with the Dad.  Very tired, but very proud of what we have built.  The most square thing either of us have done. 

 

Cheers,

James

[..Kev]

Super excited for you James!  It looks amazing!

[Chestnut]

That looks great! the inlay adds a lot of depth to the table i like it.

[shaneymack]

Looks awesome James !!

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk

[jwood314]

Thanks for the encouragement!!!

Day 14

 

Construction is 98.62305% complete!  Some inlay left, and some tweaking of the inserts, but, the table is loaded into the van and I have a 900 mile trip to drive tomorrow.  More detail coming, need to start the finishing of the table.  I got a large portion of the finish sanding complete while it was apart, but all of the joints need it, and the inserts need a ton of work to bring out the beauty of the veneer.

 

Cheers,

James

 

[..Kev]

Simply looks amazing!  Safe travels!