Grand Adventure

The poker table project kicked off just before Shelley left for a “she-cation” to the NW. As I posted before, I used Mark Junell’s approach as my starting point Link. But I wanted to modify what he did a bit because he used 3 sheets of 3/4 plywood for his table. 3/4 plywood is very heavy, and even using one sheet and a partial makes for difficult work moving the sucker around as I do my work. I can only imagine how it will be when all assembled. So, for the playing surface/top itself I used 5/8 ply instead. An appreciable difference in weight, and it will be as sturdy as the original design.

At this point, I have ordered all the materials to put the thing together but not everything has arrived. My goal is finishing the thing before our soiree on the 12th, but that is dependent on the materials. The cup holders and folding legs are left to come in. I probably could have gotten both here in SA but it would have taken too much time hunting around town. The legs are coming UPS, and the truck was due per their tracking tool yesterday. I was outside working on the top (how to connect it to the base board…done) and the truck pulled up. UPS usually hits our neighborhood around 7 PM at the end of their route/day apparently. The kid went into the back of the truck, mulled around for about 5 full mins then got in the driver’s seat and drove away. I’m guessing he didn’t have the item On their site it was due today but I never saw the guy. Let’s hope he comes tomorrow.

The total cost of the project is going to hit just above $300. Now, before you gag and wonder if I used hardwoods, stainless steel cup holders, etc, I want to put that into perspective.
Look at this table for sale on a website. That costs $350 without shipping. It only seats 9 people, and the legs look just as bad to me as the folding ones will…but will be less functional and probably less sturdy. I shudder to think if it would even survive one military move let alone at least two more. My table the legs will fold up flat against the base, and the primary concern will be not tearing the vinyl rail.

As with any project I take on, after some of the steps I realize a quicker or better-quality way of doing things. The first thing is that I’d not worry about making the edges flush via the sander. My good friend Harry popped down from Ft Hood last weekend and offered to help me out (and he was a HUGE help…couldn’t have done the vinyl rail by myself). Frankly, there was no point to having things flush at that early stage. What I would do, however, is use a flush-trim bit on my router. After the base of the table was cut using a jig saw I could lay the other pieces of plywood sequentially on top of the base board and use the flush-trim bit to make them exactly the same. I’ve got to think smarter on these things in the future.

If you decide to make a table of your own, I hope you grasp that Mark Junell’s steps are a little bit out of sequence on his site. He talks about putting the felt on the table top before he walks you through how to set the fastening system to the top and base. Obviously you cannot put the felt down before this step or you’d be ripping up the felt. Having said that, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t need to secure the felt top to the base at all. It will/should fit perfectly snug to the race track if you follow the cutting process correctly. I would certainly screw in the rail lip to the base board, and even the race track to the base board. Both are for ensuring a sturdy table, but also it will hide inconsistent edges. Particularly on the rail which may try to pop up on you exposing the base board.

For my table I painted the edge of the baseboard and the race track a glossy black. It should contrast nicely against the red felt, and blend with the black vinyl. I also recommend painting about 2 inches into the baseboard from the side. This will help blend things if your rail isn’t perfectly flush against the baseboard.

I’ll post pictures of more of what I’ve done tomorrow.