New Top for the Game Table

 

The venerable game table has a new top and some sporty wheels.  The old table was really beat up after 11+ years of gaming and high school robotics teams and just didn't look that good.

I remove the top and replaced it with 2 laminated sheets of 3/4 inch plywood with a nice walnut edge treatment.

I also ransacked the crap - I mean - treasure I had crammed inside it and have a lot of new storage space to work with.

Despite getting a nick walnut edging while carrying the top down to the basement, I think it looks grand and cant wait until I can host some games on it.  The nick is in the corner in the third picture/. Im thinking of using a bit of epoxy to cover it up. 

While carrying this top was a bit of a challenge, it's dead flat and will be a great play surface.

The old top looked like this.  The original design concept had the top on piano hinges so it could be opened to use as a drafting board and have storage underneath.  It might have been a sound idea in theory.  However, in practice it was never used as the top was awkward to lift and usually the table is covered in umm stuff.

The table is 41 and 1/4 inches high so just a little shorter than the previous version but a nice height to game at.

Next I want to build to extensions and bracket mounts to be able to have a larger than 8x4 playing area.

Overall, I'm very pleased with how this came out!

New Tabletop for the Game Table

With the flooring done, the next project is to revamp the gaming table.  I've removed the old top, which was really, really beat up and am working on a nicer looking replacement

I want to reduce the height of the table back down to 41 inches.  The old table top was 47 inches high after the casters were installed.

Here's a shot of the old table top (and the awful old carpet)

Lots to do this weekend!

 

Basement Flooring Done

 

The basement re-flooring project is now complete.  Well the flooring is now all down.  I still have to attach the shoe moulding around all the trim but that's on order as it appears are most building supplies these days.

I am forced to admit that my lovely yet fierce wife was right (again) this type of vinyl flooring is superb - it feels like wood, looks great and is nigh on indestructible. 

The gaming area is looks great and is now due for a major refit since everything had to be moved.  Moreover , the prospect of moving all of that "Sh**" oops - I meant to say "treasure" back really brought home that I can get rid of half of that stuff and clear out a lot of space.  I often tease my wife about her hoarding tendencies with her research papers but I now realize that I "might" have a similar issue with tiny little figures.  Somewhere in the world Marie Kondo is smiling.

The sharpe eyed amongst you might be wondering - hey where did that massive table go?

It's on wheels!  Very sporty.

I borrowed one of those large floor jacks from a friend who runs a car repair garage and used it to jack up one end just enough so I could attach some heavy duty castors and then repeated the process for the other end.  The castors have wheel locks and the table remains very sturdy when they are all locked up.

Now that the basement repairs are almost done,  I think I'm going to do a full refit of the gaming area.  At some point in the future, I will be able to host people for a game (with or without bubble suits) and I'd like to make it a memorable experience.

Adding the wheels was a great addition to the table but doing so has raise the table height from 42 inches to 47, which is a tad too high (in my opinion).  I'm going to replace the top of the table with 2 sheets of 2/4 inch plywood so its nice and flat and maybe trim the edges in walnut.  Technically the current table top was meant for storage under the playing surface but I've never used it so I can reduce the height back down to 43 inches and make the table look a bit better.  I'll give the potential changes a "think" over the next week and then get to work.

I need to move fast, as the Boss is coming up with other home improvement projects for me to do.  There are rumors of putting in a heated floor in the master bath and upgrading it's counter tops and cabinets.  We do live in perilous times.

New Art for the Game Room

 Some new art had been added to the game room in the form of a painting by Mark Churms of the Battle of Mobile Bay, which occurred in 1864 during the American Civil War.

I grew up on Mobile Bay and spent many days on Dauphin Island, which is where one of the two forts that guarded the entrance to Mobile Bay was located (Fort Gaines).  The other side was guarded by Fort Morgan, which is depicted in the painting.

The painting was a present by my wife and we commissioned the painter Mark Churms, so it's an original.  I'm trying to class up the games area in the hopes of hosting a lot more games over the course of 2018.

I do think I'll repainting my 1/600 scale model of the CSS Tennessee to exactly match the one in the painting.  The USS Tecumseh model is pretty much spot on to the one in the painting so now rework there!

The Uber-Geek's Guide to Woodworking for Wargamers Post #1

I've decided to start a new series on my blog entitle "Woodworking for Wargamers".  As with most of my endeavors there's just a rough outline of what the series will be and we'll all wing it from there.  What could go wrong?

Pictured at the top is a game table I built for my friend Steve MacLaughlin.  I really enjoyed building the table and every warmer should have a table as a house warming present, shouldn't they?

First, a few caveats.

(1) I'm not an expert woodworker, My skill level is, at best, moderate, having started just a few years ago.  That means I may have some techniques that are just plain wrong or not that effective.  I'm very open to constructive criticism from all of you as I'll likely be learning along the way.

(2) I'm a cautious woodworker.  Workshop safety is both a skill, a mindset, and a hallmark of a quality woodworker.  It's the most important skill to develop.  Modern power tools create huge efficiencies and improve accuracy but they must be respected at all times or they will cause gruesome injuries.  Remember the only measure of success in working is starting and ending projects with the same number of digits AND their all at original lengths.  Anything else is an EPIC FAIL.

Your most important safety tool is your brain and you really must have it tuned to a safety first attitude.  Please don't attempt any of the things I will be trying without a safety first mindset.  Lastly, If you do follow any advice I may give you are doing so at your own risk.  Remember, I'm pretty much a standard issue moron.

(3) The pace of the series will ebb and flow as my work/life balance does.  I do move at a deliberate (OK, slow) pace with woodworking - pretty much due to item 2 above.  You can always spot fast woodworkers as they are the ones with less than ten fingers.....

(4) To be honest, one of the reasons to do this series is to create excuses to give to my lovely, yet fierce, wife to buy new tools.  Those of you with spouses understand and value the benefit of appropriate acquisition cover can provide.

(5) Power vs Hand Tools.  There is nothing than can be built with power tools that can not also be built with hand tools.  The trade-off is time and skill level.  It's kind of like the trade-off between Muskets and Longbows.  Where I can, I'll try to demonstrate how something can be accomplished with just hand tools vs power.  This series will be gauged at the beginner so I'll be assuming you don't have a lot of tools.

(6) I'm going to try to make some video how-to's as well as my normal "wall of text with blurry pictures".  Who knows?, maybe I'll start my own YouTube Channel and become a major star in the wargaming woodworking circuit and garner all the fame and fortune that ensues.  Then again this aspect may die in editing as I tire at looking at my edifice and throw it all out.  We shall see.

For those of you who have made and posted video tutorials, any advice on equipment and "how-to's" is greatly appreciated.

Potential Topics:
Here's my list of potential post/video topics.  These will change and likely right after I hit the "publish" button in the upper right of my screen.

- Information Sources
There are a lot of really interesting websites and Youtube channels dedicated to woodworking which I get a lot of value out of.  So will you.  All of the sites/channels I'll refer you to are way more experienced than me.  If their advice contradicts mine, ignore me!

- Shop Safety
See item 2 above, this really isn't something to take lightly.

- Shop Layout and Basic Tools
Having some form of a workspace is really important and knowing how to scale your projects to fit that space.

- Cutting and beveling MDF for terrain and troop trays
A bit simple, but there are easy ways and hard ways to cut and bevel MDF and we all put off doing it.

- Types of wood
Woodworking has a similar tradeoff in wood species as we have in plastics vs metals.

- Lets build some dice trays
Ohhh joinery - joinery is the how two pieces of wood are joined together.  There's lots of different ways and I mean lots......

- Wood finishing
How to make an ordinary job look extraordinary.

- Dice Tower Project
It's just a dice tray with a superiority complex.

- Storage units for miniatures
OK this is a fancy way of saying shelving, but we all need more storage.

- Terrain Panels
Who doesn't want to hear the "oohs and ahhhs" from passer by's at a con?

- Travel cases with display tops
'Cause we all like to show off just like in "Show and Tell" in grade school.

- Organizers and player aids for various game systems
I'm taking suggestions for what to build here and for which game systems.

- Basic and High End game tables
I feel like building some game tables and likely retro fitting mine.  There will be a charity auction for any tables we build at the end of this series.

EDIT / ADDITION
- Painting Desk
Why not have a custom layout that meets your specs?

Well there you have it.  I really open to other project/topic suggestions (as long as they facilitate my main goal of having an excuse to buy more tools).  Please let me know if there is something you'd like me to cover.

Hey Tango!  Since I'm banned from TMP can you cross post it over there?
(OK I just couldn't resist that one)

Steve's Table - In Use!

 Steve's new gamin table got it's baptism of fire this weekend at a Mini-gaming "con" I put on in St Michaels.  I had 13 friends join me for three days of gaming, drinking beer and eating grilled meats - you know, Valhalla.

I'll do a more detailed report on the "con" but this was a test of an annual event I'd like to throw and it seems to ge really well.  We had a total of 13 people attend and we all had a great time.  But more on that in a future post.

Steve's table got's it first use and seemed to do really well.  It's now in Richmond for Steve to finish up the sanding and then apply his stain of choice.

I'll be building another table for Mike (far left in the second picture) as he just bought a house and needs a house warning present...

Steve's Gaming Table: Part 9 - Parts List and Build Advice

This post will feature a parts list and some advice on the tools you need to build a similar table.  Before doing anything the most important tools to use are a pad of paper and a pen - draw / list some ideas you want for your table.  Really think through what you want / what you don't need etc.

I tend to spend a week or so planning (my wife calls it day dreaming) and often end up changing the design / project goals several times before I land on what I think I want.  It's a lot less expensive to throw away a design on a piece of paper that a project that is halfway built.

In terms of tools needed for the project, I'll divided them into "got-to-have" and "nice to have".  A reason will be supplied for each "nice-to-have".

Before starting any project like this, you need to have 2 things firmly planted in your mind

(1) An understanding and respect for shop safety:
Power tools can be very dangerous if they are not used in a safe way.  Always wear eye protection (I keep a pair of safety googles with each power tool) and make sure your feet are clear of obstructions when using the tool.  The table is not a good project for a first time wood worker unless you've got an experienced friend to help you build it.

(2) Patience
One of the leading causes of shop accidents is haste - doing things too fast leads to accidents which can be unforgiving when a power tool is involved.  Take your time and don't get frustrated when you make a mistake (I make lots of them).  Have more than the lumber you need for a project on hand to account for mis cuts and always remember it's far better to go to the lumber yard for extra wood than the emergency room.

In terms of time to finish, the table took 3 weekends to completed assemble.  There's another few days of sanding and finishing work to do which will occur onsite at Steve's house.

Got-to-Have Tools:

- Carpenters Square

- Quality Tape Measurer (you use this tool the most, so don't go cheap)

- Hand Saw
- - I've become a big fan of Japanese style woodworking saws but any kind will do - very helpful for small parts or trimmings where using a power mitre saw is unsafe

- Power Mitre Saw
- - I have a big one (12" blade) make sure yours is big enough to handle a 4x4 post and cut 90 and 45 degree angles easily

- Power Router w/
- - 3/8 inch straight bit
- - 3/8 inch T-Slot bit

- Cordless Drill
- - 5/8 inch drill bit for mounting pegs
- - 1/4 inch drill bit  for T-Bolt holes on accessory trays
- - 1/8 inch drill bit for screw guide holes
- - Philips head screw bit

- Rubber Hammer (for "persuading" parts to fit without leaving a mark)

- Block Plane

- 3/8 inch chisel (for cleaning out the grooves)

- Clamps, lots of clamps

- Philips head screw driver

- Hand files

- Sanding Blocks ( pieces of scrap (usually a 6 inch length of 1x2 with sand paper wrapped around it)
- - 150 grit sand paper
- - 220 grit sand paper


Nice-to-Have

- Table Saw
Really helps with building the accessory trays, cutting the mounting lip

- Router Table
You can cut all the grooves needed with a standard router and guide but a router table makes it a lot easier, faster, more accurate and safer - other than than that there's no real difference.  Rumors that I used this project as a way to justify to my wife the purchase of a new Rockler Router Table (the Rolls Royce of Router Tables) are true.

- Nail Gun
For this project I wanted to go with no visible screw heads or other metal fasteners, using a nail gun will "speed-up" the glue drying process.

- Marking Gauge
Used for accurately marking cut lines where consistency is really important (multiple parts)

Part List:
The costs associated for the parts is based on pricing from a large big box US Home Improvement retailer (Home Depot to be exact).  You can trim the costs for wood by 20% by getting the stock from a lumber yard.

Parts List
Table Part	Name	Number	Cost Per	Total Cost
Top Apron	1x6 Pine, 6'	4	$6.75	$27.00
	2x2 Pine 6'	6	$7.96	$47.76
Bottom Apron	1x4 Pine 6'	4	$4.38	$17.52
	1x2 Pine 6'	6	$3.52	$21.12
Legs	4x4 Cedar 8'	2	$22.70	$45.40
End Caps	scrap exotic wood			$0.00
Top
	2x4 1/2 plywood	3	$15.00	$45.00
Bottom Shelf
	2x4 1/4 plywood	3	$10.00	$30.00
Hardware / Fastners
	L Brackets (2 per pack)	8	$3.97	$31.76
	http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-2-1-2-in-Zinc-Plated-Double-Wide-Corner-Brace-2-Pack-15052/202034033
	3/8 Dowel, 3'	1	$3.50	$3.50
	1'1/4 Wood Screws	40	$0.12	$4.98
	Wood Glue
Total Parts Cost				$274.03
Accessory Tray Parts
T-Slot Bolts (1/4/20, 1.5 inches)		10	$1.00	$9.98
Knobs (1/4/20)		10	$2.49	$24.90
Scrap Wood for the trays				$0.00
Total Project Cost				$308.91

Steve's Gaming Table: Part 8: Finished! (except for the finish!)

 Whew, the construction part of the game table is complete - this baby's ready see some dice rolled in anger!  The wood's still unfinished, hence the odd title to the post, but I need Steve's input on any color choices since this is going in his house.  I know, I know, it's really his wife's decision but lets go along with the charade.  I've really enjoyed building the table and learned a lot in the process - thanks for being my guinea pig Mr Steve.

 The final tasks for today included putting in some cross supports to support the playing top and storage shelf underneath.  I did this by adding some cleated which I attached with some glue and my trusty cordless nail gun.  A cordless nail gun? - we live in magical times.

 Since Steve has a little one, I'm using 2'xs as the cross brace in case the young lady decides to go climbing.

All nice and square.  I'm using small brass "L" brackets to attach the supports - they don't bear any weight but make assembling and disassembling much easier.

 With the upper and lower cross braces in place, I needed to trim the lower plywood to fit around the tables legs.  Each post is 2/5inched square and i added 1/8 to the measure to account for swelling.

 For precision cuts like these I prefer to do them by hand and have a Japanese Kerf saw (it's like a giant X-Acto razor saw only sharper.  I've just started using Japanese style saws for woodworking and I must say they are superior tools.  I expect I'll replace my entire hand saw set with their Land of the Rising Sun equivalents.

My earlier post today mentioned some wrapping on the larger accessory troop trays.  I cut some angles for my project scrap and now things are nice and square.  Perhaps not the most elegant of designs but it's damn sturdy.

 The end caps are glued into place - I attached them to the short aprons with wood glue - nothing fancy.

 Action shot of the cup holder in use - very exciting, isn't it?

A close up of the cup holder showing the grove and dimple for wine glasses.

 A dice tray on the troop tray!

 A shot of the other trays.

 Here it is again all nice and done except for fine sanding and a finish.

 Close up of the I-Pad stand

I think the corners came out really nice

 I even cleaned up my work bench after the project was done!

 A shot of the cup holder showing how it accepts a wine glass.  The fit was a little tight show I'll file it open a bit more

Without the slot the wine glass looks a bit precarious doesn't it.

I'll be meeting Steve in a few days for a weekend gaming event and will give him the table then.  Once they figure out what type of finish and table top they want I may pop down and finish the project up.

This was a lot of fun and I have some ideas on how to fix up my table, which will be put in place after Historicon.  I've got to make some terrain now!

Steve's Gaming Table: Part 7 - Accessory Trays

Five accessory trays were assembled yesterday: 2 large troop trays (12x14 inches), 2 cup holders and in the center an I-Pad / Rule book holder.  Overall I'm very happy because they fit together and are very study when clamped to the table side.  I dressed all the corners of the trays with 1/2 inch square stock so they mirror the style of the table's corners.

The cup holders have a slot and center depression to accommodate a long stem wine glass so it's more stable.  I've got one more tray to make (a dice tray) and we'll be done with these (for now).

I'm not happy with two aspects of the larger troop trays.  First there's a little bit of wave (curve in the wood) because I used 1/4 birch plywood for the bottoms to reduce weight.  I'll fix that today with some bracing.

The second issue comes from a classic Homer Simpson "Doohhh" moment.  Take a closer look at the two trays - the one on the far left has a lip around its sides while the one on the right seems to be the opposite - why is that?

It seems I initially affixed the mounting plate to the right sided tray backwards - see the lower mounting groove is facing out rather than facing in to the side of the table.  By the time I had noticed this the glue had set so I had to run the piece through my table saw to cut off the top piece, flip it over and attach a new mounting plate.

So we'll now be able to test is Steve prefers either troop trays with walls around the edges or ones with without.  We'll call the second type of tray "free-range" troop trays.

The construction phase of this project is coming to an end - I think I've got about a days worth of work to do.  The remaining tasks include:

- cutting down the 1/2 inch 8x4 ft plywood into 6 2x4 ft panels to serve as the temporary top and bottom.  (I need some input from Steve and his wife on what they want for a permanent top)

- installing the "L" bracket hardware for the top and bottom aprons

- putting in cross-sectional supports for the table top and bottom shelf - no one likes a saggy table top

After that it's all sanding, sanding and, yes, even more sanding.  Hmmm, I wonder where Steve might come in handy?

Steve's Gaming Table: Part 6 - End Caps

 A little bit of work Friday night.  I trimmed one corner of the lower Aprons to match (it was about 1/8 inch off by using a hand plane.

 Next the 8 end caps were cut and sized.  These will go in the corners of the top and bottom aprons to dress things up a bit and attempt to make the table nicer than it really is.

 Here's a picture of an end cap in place

Some finish testing - I'm not sure I like any of them at the moment.  One plus of shaping the end caps is that I ended up with a nice supply of "large bases" for big units like artillery trains.

Saturday will be dedicated to adding the "L" braces for support, installing the temporary plywood tops and building a few accessory trays.

The table will get used in it's first game next Thursday so I need to get moving.

Steve's Gaming Table: Part 5 - Accessory Rail Access Points

Last night I cut in the access points for the accessory rails on each of the 4 top apron pieces. To do this I built a simple jig.  The bottom part of the Jig is used for drilling out the holes for each accessory piece and the top is used for drilling out the access point so the T-Slot screws can gain entry into the channel.

 The concept makes more sense when shown after the access points have been installed.  Each Accessory tray, cup holder, dice bin etc is slipped into the rails and then slid over and tightened down.

The apron end caps will be cut from these blocks of scrap exotic wood.  I think it's teak but I'm not sure.  I'll need to cut these down to 4 pieces that are 1x1x5.5 inches for the top apron corners and 4 that a 1x1x4 inches for the bottom apron corners.

I've got a giant box of exotic scrap / cut-offs from a lumber yard but really don't know exactly what I've got.  Lets call it "mystery wood" for now.

Steve's Gaming Table: Part 4: The Frame is Built

Whew - this was a busy morning.  The basic frame for Steve's gaming table is complete (except for some decorative finish work.  Here's a shot of the assembled frame - it will all be held together with wooden pegs and some brackets so the table can make it's ways down to Richmond.

 First thing thins morning, I clamped together the top apron to make sure everything fit.  This is always a little scary as mis-measuring of misquoting shows up right about now....

 The width is 48 inches and the..

 Length is 72 - bang on.  To be honest that's never happened before!

 All the top aprons clamped into place .  I'll be using wooden pegs to hold the top aprons on the table.

 The first step is to drill out a jig so the holes are positioned correctly.  The jig will also allow me to use a hand drill which will be a lot easier and safer

 First test of the jig is a success.

This picture shows "A" corner with the page in place for each apron - it now rakes a good bit of force to remove the tops.

 "B" corner - I ran out of 5/8 inch dowel so one of the pegs is a bit sort.  I'll run out to the hardware store later this weekend and replace that bit.

 I then cut the lower apron parts and assembled them.

 The other lower aprons waiting to be attached with clamps.  The 1x2 lip alone each apron will support a storage bench under the table.

 Moment of truth - with all the aprons attached and aligned is the table square.

"A" corner is!

 "B" Corner reporting in "Square"

 "C" in corner is all right angles too..

 And lastly, "D" corner is square also - another first in my furniture making history.

There is a lot of sanding to be done, but I think that's a job Steve can help with!

I need to add some stringers across the gaps to support both the table tops and storage bench of they will sag over time.  I need some input from Steve (and more likely his wife on some decorative choices

- Plywood for the table top or sound we go with something a bit more fancy like stair treads or a nice dark wood

- Do they want exposed attachments (plugs) or hidden ones

- Finish style

- Accessory rail parts