James Wood
03-21-2016, 9:19 AM
8 years ago, or so, I saw a gaming table made by a company called Geek Chic, being a huge gamer myself, I was floored by the idea of that table. I could never commit myself to purchasing one of their tables, mainly due to the time it takes them to make them. I am an Air Force officer and move quite often, would hate to put a deposit down on a table, and end up in Guam, where they couldn’t ship it, which is what would have happened if I did. Fast forward to today. I still have been lusting after a gaming table, I had been surfing the web looking for a good table to build, on YouTube and Board Game Geek. Through the looking, I happened to stumble across a web site called the Wood Whisperer, watched some of his videos on line, and decided to take the plunge and spend the $s to get the plans and the video tutorials. I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the videos, the drawings, and all of the step by step instructions on how to craft this table. I have a lot of experience in building and designing, from wood to plastic to metal. I like doing prop reproduction, look at them for a while then sell them. This is an Enterprise I did, and sold, currently working on the TOS Bridge and 1/72 Falcon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18tcUsKjq3Q
The other half of deciding to do this build, my father is in his 70s, and he is also an avid wood worker. I really wanted a keep sake that I will have for the rest of my life, and this table fits this perfectly and unfortunately there is a time limit on how long we could do this. My father built my sister an amazing crib, I wanted a table. So enough back story.
I am currently deployed, and will have 7 weeks when I get back to move my family to our new over seas home, so I am able to take 2 weeks off to build this table and accessories. This timeline though drove me to make some decisions, the main one being I needed all of the material, that can’t be easily procured at a big box home improvement store bought. I wanted this table made out of dark wood, I love veneer, so going to have veneer as part of the project, I also am going to build multiple card boxes to help pay for this endeavor, so I needed more wood and veneer to build these boxes. There will be a lot of down time during the build of the table, such as watching glue dry, where I can do the boxes.
So, where to purchase the lumber for the table and what type of lumber? After a few weeks of website surfing, I ended up going with Bell Forest Products, http://www.bellforestproducts.com/. A couple of reasons, one, their selection was amazing, they had so many woods and burls that I have never even heard of, and a lot of these, you could buy in a small inlay board that isn’t too expensive. Also, they have a section on hand-picking your board, this was really cool. A huge concern of mine was spending several thousand dollars on lumber that I had never seen, made me a little nervous. The handpicked board section, and Eric Poirer’s incredible help really helped me to overcome my trepidation with ordering site unseen for a large chunk of lumber. If I can figure out how, I will attach some photos below of the order. I need the lumber in mid-late April, so getting it super-fast wasn’t a concern, and Eric made several suggestions, and also delayed shipping to allow for a new shipment on their end to get the best possible lumber. Eric was very familiar with the table, due to being a partner/preferred vendor/friend? with The Wood Whisperer, and was able to steer me to a list of wood species that would work well for the table. I gave me a ROM for the different species, and I ended up going with Wenge instead of a dark Walnut. I really like the dark look and grain pattern of Wenge. I can’t wait to work with the wood. I also picked up numerous inlay boards, accessory boards and box boards, more on all of those later. Eric’s awesome customer service, both via email and phone calls, the 10% guild discount really made buying through them a no brainer. I have seen and read about horror stories where if you are not buying 1000 bd ft at a time, you get no service, Bell Forest was just the opposite, I purchased only about 100 bd ft, but I was always treated well, and I can’t recommend these guys enough to go buy lumber. I know I will buy from them for my next project.
I love veneer and I have always wanted to work with it. Be bopping around the internet looking for a supplier, I ended going with Veneer Supplies http://www.veneersupplies.com/ you might have heard of this as the sales site of Joe Woodworker. I ended up at Joe Woodworker’s site before I found his online store, but he has put so much effort his articles, I learned so much from them that I almost felt obligated to purchase from his store. However, looking at his prices, which are competitive, and his selection, which is also outstanding and being able to buy in none massive quantities, it was another no brainer for me to buy from Joe. Lol, I have no veneering experience, and no tools, so had to buy the tools from Joe and the veneer, I already own a vacuum pump from my resin work I have done, but another chunk of change spent. This was one of the best ways to get some Macassar Ebony into the table, along with several types of burls. I can’t wait to get some pics of the veneer he shipped and of the finished product.
So, going to talk about the table some. The current table is about 38” x 72” on the outside, this causes a 30” x 64” gaming surface. I want a large surface, some of the games I play won’t fit. So the first order of business is to increase the size of the table. I am looking at adding 8” in each direction. The main limiting factor on this though is transportation. I will have to be able to transport the completed table in a Toyota Sienna. I currently live at Tyndall AFB, but making the table in McKinney Texas, and driving it back to my home. I am pretty sure I can get a 4’ x 8’ sheet of whatever in the back, will have to test this before I build the table. LOLOL, I would hate to build something I can’t get back home, that would suck. Our current dining table is 30” x 72”, so this will be a tad bit bigger in its out dimensions. When I get home in a few weeks I will measure the van and see what my max dimensions are. Additionally, the depth of the play space is an issue for me. Looking at the drawings, the depth is about 2.25” of depth from the top of the play surface to the bottom of the inserts. When you add in an acrylic panel and a possible speed cloth insert, you start removing some of this depth. I am looking at adding in 1.5” of depth. So, how do I get there? I will cut the ˝” groove that the bottom play surface sits in the side rails a little lower, and I will make up the rest in making the table taller, by about half an inch and making the side rails half to one inch taller, depends on the lumber in the order. So I can’t set this dimension until I take a look at the Wenge I have on hand. Looking at the pics of the lumber I can scale off of some known dimensions and I should be ok adding this extra depth into the table. Having a deeper play space will allow for more types of games to be played and stored in this space.
The other major divergence from the base design is the accessory rail. The current rail looks fantastic, I think the way to get the attachments into the table, and the pattern needed to support that adds a cool look to the table. However, having used a Geek Chic table, a buddy of mine owns one, I really like how their rail works, also easier to make the accessories. I can’t directly measure a table over here, but my buddy sent me some dimensions, and I can scale off of a few pics of the rail. I plan on building this rail system out of pine first, before I transfer it to the Wenge, can’t afford to ruin an 8 foot board with the incorrect or inoperable rail system. Here is where the Bell Forest hand picked board comes into play. Having my last name as wood, I happen to really like all sorts of wood. Bell Forest was able to feed my addiction, and here are the boards I purchased to make my accessories out of. You can go to that game table website to see what these look like, they will be similar to what they have.
Accessories
Bolivian Rosewood - cup holders
Zebra Wood - card/counter holder
Curly Cherry – Wine Glass Holders
Granadillo - tablet holder, maybe book holder, maybe dice holder
Walnut – Bins
The inserts will be three different burls on one side, currently Elm, Walnut and Redwood. I am thinking of not using the Redwood though and going with something else, to keep all three a darker color, I might dye the Redwood to darken it up, not sure. The other side of the inserts will be a Flat Cut Bolivian Rosewood, and this is absolutely gorgeous, huge shout out to Joe on his selection, and I am thinking of using Zebrawood veneer in there somehow. Having grown the table, the Rosewood might not be large enough to cover all three panels, and I want the grain to line up perfectly across them. Still thinking on this, and will need to measure etc when I get to McKinney.
The bottom of the play space will not be a cabinet plywood, I plan on veneering over MDF this also. I got a great deal on an Eucalyptus burl veneer that has a blade marking the sheets. I also acquired some quartersawn Macassar Ebony, and will use the two to create some sort of pattern on the bottom of the playing surface, I also purchased some inexpensive veneer to back the other side to avoid warping. Since the bottom piece is going to be longer than 6 foot, I had to purchase the 4’ x ‘8 vacuum bag, oh well.
Veneers
Triple Panels Top
AAA Elm Burl Veneer
AAA Redwood Burl Veneer
AAA Walnut Burl Veneer
Triple Panels Bottom
AAA Zebrawood Veneer Sheet
AAA Flat Cut Rosewood (Bolivian) Veneer
Interior Table Bottom
AAA Quartersawn Ebony (Macassar) Veneer
AAA Eucalyptus Burl Veneer
AAA Okoume Veneer Sheet
I plan on doing inlay around the top of the table, on the skirts and on the legs. I have been looking at inlay designs on line and I have not seen a design that carries the side inlay all the way around the table, so goes from skirt to leg back to skirt. Most of what I have seen is a box on each skirt and on each face of the leg. Not sure if I want to do a bunch of boxes, I am stuck on the wrapping the entire side in a continuous run of inlay. There will be three layers of inlay, the two outer bands will be Holly at either 1/8 or 3/16 not sure on the width, and the center will be 1/4 wide, but will be made up of 1 inch long pieces of wood. 50% will be Birds Eye Maple and the other will be from about 20 different types of wood. Here is a list of that wood.
Amboyna Burl
Black Palm
Bocote
Bolivian Rose Wood
B/W Ebony
Brown Mallee Burl
Cocobolo
E. Indian Rose Wood
Gabon Ebony
Holly
Indian Ebony
Jatoba
Katalox
Kingwood
Lace Wood
Leopard Wood
Osage Orange
Padauk
Purple Heart
Red Coolibah Burl
Snakewood
Tamboti
Thuya Burl
Tornillo
Tulip Wood
Zebra Wood
Ziricote
Most of the above woods came in the inlay size from Bell Forest. I can do a mock up of the inlay and see if I like it. Will take some pics. I just love all of the variety of woods, I know it might look busy, but most of the table is black and white, the inlay will be the real varying part, and I don’t think it will over power everything else, but will add a cool touch. Who knows until I try it though? I also plan on doing some inlay in some of the accessories to spice them up some.
For the finish on the inlay section, I plan on doing all of my sanding for the Wenge before I install the inlay. Install all of the inlay, finish it with a cabinet scrapper then seal it. I am very concerned about getting dust into the holly and ruining the color of the wood.
For the overall finish, I plan on filling the pores on the Wenge with Crystalac or Ebony Timbermate. I will do some test samples to see what I like. Here are the various finish schedules I am looking at:
Group 1
No Oil
Crystalac (Shellac – Sand)x3 (Arm R Seal Gloss – Sand)x3 Polish
Crystalac (Shellac – Sand)x3 (Arm R Seal Gloss – Sand)x2 (Arm R Seal Satin – Finish Sand) Steel Wool?
Timbermate (Shellac – Sand)x3 (Arm R Seal Gloss – Sand)x3 Polish
Timbermate (Shellac – Sand)x3 (Arm R Seal Gloss – Sand)x2 (Arm R Seal Satin – Finish Sand) Steel Wool?
Group 2
Some sort of Oil
Crystalac (Shellac – Sand)x3 (Arm R Seal Gloss – Sand)x3 Polish
Crystalac (Shellac – Sand)x3 (Arm R Seal Gloss – Sand)x2 (Arm R Seal Satin – Finish Sand) Steel Wool?
Timbermate (Shellac – Sand)x3 (Arm R Seal Gloss – Sand)x3 Polish
Timbermate (Shellac – Sand)x3 (Arm R Seal Gloss – Sand)x2 (Arm R Seal Satin – Finish Sand) Steel Wool?
So a total of 8 test sample to get finished out. Will take a couple of days to get to the finish point on these. This will also get me comfortable using the various finishes. I am not sure on which oil to use on these guys though. I also understand that I might not get the table finish work complete in my time in Texas, I have a few weeks back at Tyndall where I can complete the work, and let the finish cure for several days before polishing it, if that is what I decide.
I have used a ton of Lacquer on my models, but I don’t have a large scale sprayer, I would laugh trying to finish a table with an air brush. I would also spend a gagillion dollars trying to buy enough spray cans to spray it on, so some sort of wiping finish is going to be required. I have neem researching how to finish all of the boxes, more on this in a bit.
As a way to offset some of this cost, I plan on making a whole bunch of high end card boxes.
African Mahogany
Peruvian Walnut
Mayan Walnut
Aspen
Wenge
Zebra Wood
Flame Birch
Shedua
Honey Locust
Butternut
Hard Maple
Holly
Canarywood
Bocote
Red Heart
Gaboon Ebony – this one is mine.
I plan on filling pores with crystalac, then shellac then probably Arm R Seal on the outside and Spray can Lacquer on the inside, due to its quick dry time. I also plan on re-sawing the boards to get a bottom panel and card dividers for inside the box. Will have to build some jigs, but once I get 1 made, the rest will get knocked out very quickly, the hard part is doing the finish work on these. There will also be some sort of cloth bottom for the boxes. For the top of the boxes, they will probably be MDF core, use the hardwood that the box is made out of for a surround on the MDF and then a veneer for the top and bottom.
So, a lot of unknowns on dimensions, a whole lot of work I have never done before, a very strict time limit, 2000+ miles of driving, no problems! Very excited to build this table, looking forward to posting updates on the progress, and even more important, the completed project.
Cheers,
James
334208334209334210334207
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18tcUsKjq3Q
The other half of deciding to do this build, my father is in his 70s, and he is also an avid wood worker. I really wanted a keep sake that I will have for the rest of my life, and this table fits this perfectly and unfortunately there is a time limit on how long we could do this. My father built my sister an amazing crib, I wanted a table. So enough back story.
I am currently deployed, and will have 7 weeks when I get back to move my family to our new over seas home, so I am able to take 2 weeks off to build this table and accessories. This timeline though drove me to make some decisions, the main one being I needed all of the material, that can’t be easily procured at a big box home improvement store bought. I wanted this table made out of dark wood, I love veneer, so going to have veneer as part of the project, I also am going to build multiple card boxes to help pay for this endeavor, so I needed more wood and veneer to build these boxes. There will be a lot of down time during the build of the table, such as watching glue dry, where I can do the boxes.
So, where to purchase the lumber for the table and what type of lumber? After a few weeks of website surfing, I ended up going with Bell Forest Products, http://www.bellforestproducts.com/. A couple of reasons, one, their selection was amazing, they had so many woods and burls that I have never even heard of, and a lot of these, you could buy in a small inlay board that isn’t too expensive. Also, they have a section on hand-picking your board, this was really cool. A huge concern of mine was spending several thousand dollars on lumber that I had never seen, made me a little nervous. The handpicked board section, and Eric Poirer’s incredible help really helped me to overcome my trepidation with ordering site unseen for a large chunk of lumber. If I can figure out how, I will attach some photos below of the order. I need the lumber in mid-late April, so getting it super-fast wasn’t a concern, and Eric made several suggestions, and also delayed shipping to allow for a new shipment on their end to get the best possible lumber. Eric was very familiar with the table, due to being a partner/preferred vendor/friend? with The Wood Whisperer, and was able to steer me to a list of wood species that would work well for the table. I gave me a ROM for the different species, and I ended up going with Wenge instead of a dark Walnut. I really like the dark look and grain pattern of Wenge. I can’t wait to work with the wood. I also picked up numerous inlay boards, accessory boards and box boards, more on all of those later. Eric’s awesome customer service, both via email and phone calls, the 10% guild discount really made buying through them a no brainer. I have seen and read about horror stories where if you are not buying 1000 bd ft at a time, you get no service, Bell Forest was just the opposite, I purchased only about 100 bd ft, but I was always treated well, and I can’t recommend these guys enough to go buy lumber. I know I will buy from them for my next project.
I love veneer and I have always wanted to work with it. Be bopping around the internet looking for a supplier, I ended going with Veneer Supplies http://www.veneersupplies.com/ you might have heard of this as the sales site of Joe Woodworker. I ended up at Joe Woodworker’s site before I found his online store, but he has put so much effort his articles, I learned so much from them that I almost felt obligated to purchase from his store. However, looking at his prices, which are competitive, and his selection, which is also outstanding and being able to buy in none massive quantities, it was another no brainer for me to buy from Joe. Lol, I have no veneering experience, and no tools, so had to buy the tools from Joe and the veneer, I already own a vacuum pump from my resin work I have done, but another chunk of change spent. This was one of the best ways to get some Macassar Ebony into the table, along with several types of burls. I can’t wait to get some pics of the veneer he shipped and of the finished product.
So, going to talk about the table some. The current table is about 38” x 72” on the outside, this causes a 30” x 64” gaming surface. I want a large surface, some of the games I play won’t fit. So the first order of business is to increase the size of the table. I am looking at adding 8” in each direction. The main limiting factor on this though is transportation. I will have to be able to transport the completed table in a Toyota Sienna. I currently live at Tyndall AFB, but making the table in McKinney Texas, and driving it back to my home. I am pretty sure I can get a 4’ x 8’ sheet of whatever in the back, will have to test this before I build the table. LOLOL, I would hate to build something I can’t get back home, that would suck. Our current dining table is 30” x 72”, so this will be a tad bit bigger in its out dimensions. When I get home in a few weeks I will measure the van and see what my max dimensions are. Additionally, the depth of the play space is an issue for me. Looking at the drawings, the depth is about 2.25” of depth from the top of the play surface to the bottom of the inserts. When you add in an acrylic panel and a possible speed cloth insert, you start removing some of this depth. I am looking at adding in 1.5” of depth. So, how do I get there? I will cut the ˝” groove that the bottom play surface sits in the side rails a little lower, and I will make up the rest in making the table taller, by about half an inch and making the side rails half to one inch taller, depends on the lumber in the order. So I can’t set this dimension until I take a look at the Wenge I have on hand. Looking at the pics of the lumber I can scale off of some known dimensions and I should be ok adding this extra depth into the table. Having a deeper play space will allow for more types of games to be played and stored in this space.
The other major divergence from the base design is the accessory rail. The current rail looks fantastic, I think the way to get the attachments into the table, and the pattern needed to support that adds a cool look to the table. However, having used a Geek Chic table, a buddy of mine owns one, I really like how their rail works, also easier to make the accessories. I can’t directly measure a table over here, but my buddy sent me some dimensions, and I can scale off of a few pics of the rail. I plan on building this rail system out of pine first, before I transfer it to the Wenge, can’t afford to ruin an 8 foot board with the incorrect or inoperable rail system. Here is where the Bell Forest hand picked board comes into play. Having my last name as wood, I happen to really like all sorts of wood. Bell Forest was able to feed my addiction, and here are the boards I purchased to make my accessories out of. You can go to that game table website to see what these look like, they will be similar to what they have.
Accessories
Bolivian Rosewood - cup holders
Zebra Wood - card/counter holder
Curly Cherry – Wine Glass Holders
Granadillo - tablet holder, maybe book holder, maybe dice holder
Walnut – Bins
The inserts will be three different burls on one side, currently Elm, Walnut and Redwood. I am thinking of not using the Redwood though and going with something else, to keep all three a darker color, I might dye the Redwood to darken it up, not sure. The other side of the inserts will be a Flat Cut Bolivian Rosewood, and this is absolutely gorgeous, huge shout out to Joe on his selection, and I am thinking of using Zebrawood veneer in there somehow. Having grown the table, the Rosewood might not be large enough to cover all three panels, and I want the grain to line up perfectly across them. Still thinking on this, and will need to measure etc when I get to McKinney.
The bottom of the play space will not be a cabinet plywood, I plan on veneering over MDF this also. I got a great deal on an Eucalyptus burl veneer that has a blade marking the sheets. I also acquired some quartersawn Macassar Ebony, and will use the two to create some sort of pattern on the bottom of the playing surface, I also purchased some inexpensive veneer to back the other side to avoid warping. Since the bottom piece is going to be longer than 6 foot, I had to purchase the 4’ x ‘8 vacuum bag, oh well.
Veneers
Triple Panels Top
AAA Elm Burl Veneer
AAA Redwood Burl Veneer
AAA Walnut Burl Veneer
Triple Panels Bottom
AAA Zebrawood Veneer Sheet
AAA Flat Cut Rosewood (Bolivian) Veneer
Interior Table Bottom
AAA Quartersawn Ebony (Macassar) Veneer
AAA Eucalyptus Burl Veneer
AAA Okoume Veneer Sheet
I plan on doing inlay around the top of the table, on the skirts and on the legs. I have been looking at inlay designs on line and I have not seen a design that carries the side inlay all the way around the table, so goes from skirt to leg back to skirt. Most of what I have seen is a box on each skirt and on each face of the leg. Not sure if I want to do a bunch of boxes, I am stuck on the wrapping the entire side in a continuous run of inlay. There will be three layers of inlay, the two outer bands will be Holly at either 1/8 or 3/16 not sure on the width, and the center will be 1/4 wide, but will be made up of 1 inch long pieces of wood. 50% will be Birds Eye Maple and the other will be from about 20 different types of wood. Here is a list of that wood.
Amboyna Burl
Black Palm
Bocote
Bolivian Rose Wood
B/W Ebony
Brown Mallee Burl
Cocobolo
E. Indian Rose Wood
Gabon Ebony
Holly
Indian Ebony
Jatoba
Katalox
Kingwood
Lace Wood
Leopard Wood
Osage Orange
Padauk
Purple Heart
Red Coolibah Burl
Snakewood
Tamboti
Thuya Burl
Tornillo
Tulip Wood
Zebra Wood
Ziricote
Most of the above woods came in the inlay size from Bell Forest. I can do a mock up of the inlay and see if I like it. Will take some pics. I just love all of the variety of woods, I know it might look busy, but most of the table is black and white, the inlay will be the real varying part, and I don’t think it will over power everything else, but will add a cool touch. Who knows until I try it though? I also plan on doing some inlay in some of the accessories to spice them up some.
For the finish on the inlay section, I plan on doing all of my sanding for the Wenge before I install the inlay. Install all of the inlay, finish it with a cabinet scrapper then seal it. I am very concerned about getting dust into the holly and ruining the color of the wood.
For the overall finish, I plan on filling the pores on the Wenge with Crystalac or Ebony Timbermate. I will do some test samples to see what I like. Here are the various finish schedules I am looking at:
Group 1
No Oil
Crystalac (Shellac – Sand)x3 (Arm R Seal Gloss – Sand)x3 Polish
Crystalac (Shellac – Sand)x3 (Arm R Seal Gloss – Sand)x2 (Arm R Seal Satin – Finish Sand) Steel Wool?
Timbermate (Shellac – Sand)x3 (Arm R Seal Gloss – Sand)x3 Polish
Timbermate (Shellac – Sand)x3 (Arm R Seal Gloss – Sand)x2 (Arm R Seal Satin – Finish Sand) Steel Wool?
Group 2
Some sort of Oil
Crystalac (Shellac – Sand)x3 (Arm R Seal Gloss – Sand)x3 Polish
Crystalac (Shellac – Sand)x3 (Arm R Seal Gloss – Sand)x2 (Arm R Seal Satin – Finish Sand) Steel Wool?
Timbermate (Shellac – Sand)x3 (Arm R Seal Gloss – Sand)x3 Polish
Timbermate (Shellac – Sand)x3 (Arm R Seal Gloss – Sand)x2 (Arm R Seal Satin – Finish Sand) Steel Wool?
So a total of 8 test sample to get finished out. Will take a couple of days to get to the finish point on these. This will also get me comfortable using the various finishes. I am not sure on which oil to use on these guys though. I also understand that I might not get the table finish work complete in my time in Texas, I have a few weeks back at Tyndall where I can complete the work, and let the finish cure for several days before polishing it, if that is what I decide.
I have used a ton of Lacquer on my models, but I don’t have a large scale sprayer, I would laugh trying to finish a table with an air brush. I would also spend a gagillion dollars trying to buy enough spray cans to spray it on, so some sort of wiping finish is going to be required. I have neem researching how to finish all of the boxes, more on this in a bit.
As a way to offset some of this cost, I plan on making a whole bunch of high end card boxes.
African Mahogany
Peruvian Walnut
Mayan Walnut
Aspen
Wenge
Zebra Wood
Flame Birch
Shedua
Honey Locust
Butternut
Hard Maple
Holly
Canarywood
Bocote
Red Heart
Gaboon Ebony – this one is mine.
I plan on filling pores with crystalac, then shellac then probably Arm R Seal on the outside and Spray can Lacquer on the inside, due to its quick dry time. I also plan on re-sawing the boards to get a bottom panel and card dividers for inside the box. Will have to build some jigs, but once I get 1 made, the rest will get knocked out very quickly, the hard part is doing the finish work on these. There will also be some sort of cloth bottom for the boxes. For the top of the boxes, they will probably be MDF core, use the hardwood that the box is made out of for a surround on the MDF and then a veneer for the top and bottom.
So, a lot of unknowns on dimensions, a whole lot of work I have never done before, a very strict time limit, 2000+ miles of driving, no problems! Very excited to build this table, looking forward to posting updates on the progress, and even more important, the completed project.
Cheers,
James
334208334209334210334207