Scrabble, anyone?

[Scott Banbury]

Here's my favorite piece outta Santa's shop this year . . .

[Hank Walczak]

Scott - Impressive... Definitely a triple score!! :D How about a few details on how you constructed the playing area and did the lettering. I'd like to try something like that sometime...

[Jim Dunn]

Please quit posting pics of board games "dog gonnit" my wife has just informed me that this is what she wants now. :)
Just teasing Hank, that is one impressive piece.

[Scott Banbury]

Hank,

46 pieces of wood.

The Cherry and Walnut in the frame and raised dividers are wood I sawed and dried myself. :cool:

The playing area is a pieces of 1/2" norwegian birch plywood. :eek:

I sanded and sealed the plywood and then silkscreened the lettering on with black lacquer. Dadoed crossgrain first using spacer blocks on my sliding cutoff jig. CA'd in the raised 1/8" strips running across grain and then grooved for the strips running with the grain. Doing it this way minimized tearout but I do wish I'd gotten my 12" 72 tooth CMT sharpened before this project :o

The board sits on a solid cherry base with a lazy susan between.

BTW, I have the screen and can print more on whatever plywood someone chooses should they want to try this themselves. :D

[Jerry Olexa]

Very nice work! Good looking results!

[Karl Laustrup]

Very nice, Scott. I will NOT show this to LOML. I have enough projects in the hopper right now, but I will keep this one in mind for a later date, if you don't mind?

The contrast between the woods is very nice.

Karl

[Jack Hogoboom]

Scott,

You might want to think about selling a few of those....My wife is a Scrabble fan but there is no way I could build something like that.

Jack

[Scott Banbury]

Jack,

That's kinda the idea. The commission only brought $300 and a case of Sierra Nevada but took 30+ hours to get the silkscreen right and jig setup. Needless to say, I didn't get rich on this one, but now that I'm setup I could do them MUCH faster.

My only concern is that if I advertise them online, Scrabble may take offense and give me trouble, though I assume the game has been out long enough that patents are no longer in effect. Any suggestions on this point?

[Alfred Hoffmann]

I believe you would be violating the copyright law. That law was just extended and now covers "generations" - thanks to Mickey Mouse. I don't think you would be in trouble for doing it yourself. But you may want to check this out further.

Al Hoffmann

[Chris Padilla]

Very nice, Scott...got more pics...close-ups...different angles? The lazy susan idea is perfect!

I wonder about copyrights. Anyone in the world can make a chess/checkers or backgammon board but Scrabble is most likely different. You should protect yourself and check if you decide to advertise about such a thing.

Can you explain more about the silkscreen stuff? I am very unfamiliar with it.

[Jack Hogoboom]

Scott,

I understand the problem with the advertisement. Maybe if you contact them directly, you can work something out with them. For all you know, you could be selling hundreds of them through Sharper Image or somethng.

What do you think you'd charge for a "production" version. I am seriously interested.

Jack

[Kent Cori]

Terrific and novel idea Scott. That top really looks great!

[Rob Littleton]

Wow....that's a nice piece.

I wonder if you changed the wording in the squares to be your own translation of the original Scrabble game, and maybe, if you do go into selling them, you could change the name of the game. Maybe be a work around. I AINT GOT NO EXPERIENCE ON A MATTER LIKE THIS but just wondering.

Maybe Scobble ( Scott and Scrabble ) ........hehe

If you call it Scobble, of course, Im gonna want in on that :-) JUST KIDDING

[Scott Banbury]

Alfred,

I checked on the copyright issue and evidently, the original patent on the game has run out but Mattel/Hasbro still has a copyright on the name. So far, none of the other custom board manufacturers have been sued but a couple of guys who published books with the name "Scrabble" in the title have. I'm thinking I'd be alright if I were market them as "crossword game boards" and then mention Scrabble in the text of the page with due copyright acknowledgement. I will check it with a lawyer first though. ;)

Chris,

That's the best pic I got. I barely got it done in time for the client to throw it in the back of their car for the sleigh ride home for Christmas and my camera didn't like shooting under my livingroom lights. The client is supposed to take some more when it's unwrapped, so I might have better ones then.

Silkscreening is the process used to put pictures or text on a variety of materials, including tshirts and Point of Purchase displays--I used to travel around with the Grateful Dead and sell tshirts along the way. Basically, it is a negative developed on a fine (in this case 255 threads per inch) mesh. When developed, the image to be printed remains bare (open) while the rest of the screen is filled with an emulsion. Ink is applied to the screen and pressed through the open area with a squeegee.

Jack,

I'm thinkin' somewhere between $200 and $300 depending on whether the frame is simple (one species) or two tone like the one pictured. There used to be another fella making similar boards (though not quite as nice) that was charging $300 and I understand that the demand was there. (He's since passed away, GRHS)

Rob,

Scobble sounds pretty good. I was also thinkin' "Crabble" since I cussed the thing so much while makin' it. :D

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

Nice job. I made a Scrabble board once...didn't turn out well at all. Even tho it looks like a similar process, it's a whole different animal than gluing up a chessboard. I wouldn't do it again. :-(

I really like the 'detail' of the frame(s).

KC

[Joe Scarfo]

Scott,

It looks absolutely great. My first thoughts were I want to make one for my mother. When we were kids, she used to nail our little tushes to the seat and make me and my 3 sisters play. It did wonders for our vocabulary as we grew up. I now sit my kids down and play monopoly. It does wonders for their math and negotiation skills. I digress... sorry.

If you're inclined to supply a silkscreened board, I'm interested. How did you affix the divider strips to the board? Once inserted into their little space to spell a word, how does one remove the letter? This comes into play when the inevitable "that's not a word" arguement comes up.

I would seek out any forums on the game and share the pic. The requests to buy will come in and most likely outpace your ability to deliver. This scenario will keep you under the radar. I've been there...

Thanks
Joe in Tampa

[Dave Richards]

Scott, that's a very nice piece. Impressive.

A few questions about the screening. Did you photograph a Scrabble® board to make the screen? If so, what did you shoot it with? What ink did you use for the screening? Did you have any trouble with it bleeding on the plywood or did you seal the surface first?

I think screening could be a good addition to certain projects I have in mind. I haven't done it for a hundred years (well, 25 or so, anyway) and hadn't thought of using it on woodworking projects. You've given me some ideas.

Again, great work. I'll certainly be interested in seeing more pictures if you get them.

Dave

[Scott Banbury]

Joe,

I printed the board first and then kerfed 1/8" wide x 1/4" deep dados through the crossgrain of the plywood, CA'd in 1/8" thick x 3/8" wide Cherry strips and then kerfed 1/8" wide by 1/4" deep grooves through the long grain and CA'd in 1/8" thick x 1/4" wide strips. PM me if you're serious about a blank and we'll figure it out.

Dave,

I layed out the text of the board in TurboCad when I did the drawing for the construction. Then I exported it as an EPS to Illustrator and re-registered it before printing it on acetate with an Epson large format printer. The screen developing was done on a buddy of mine's daddy's old carbon-arc plate developer--now illegal to manufacture, but a dream--it only takes 5-10 seconds to fix the emulsion.

The ink I used is an opaque black lacquer manufactured for printing on wood or cardboard point-of-purchase displays. The plywood was sanded to 180 and sealed with shellac prior to printing.

I've done quite a few projects over the years for craftsfair folks that want their logo/name on their glass front cases, etc. but don't want to pay for inlay. It works pretty well, though not perfect every time. A few times , I've had to scrape the lacquer/ink off with a chisel and print it again.

[Jack Hogoboom]

Scott,

If you decide to sell any, please PM me and let me know. I'd love to have one for my wife.

Merry Christmas!!!

Jack