Grand Adventure

The poker table project is done (see image below, with my “supervisor” approving of the work). Considering I started just 3 weeks ago (and frittered away the first week really) not too bad. Like any of my projects, there are things I’d do much differently the second time. Before I forget, I must thank Shelley for letting me take this project on (and her total encouragement of the results), and Harry W., without whom I wouldn’t have finished it in time for our big game party (happening tomorrow afternoon). Here’s my wrap up of the tasks, where I did good and where I goofed up.

1. Have all supplies on hand before starting work. This is a no brainer, but I felt like I needed to crank out as much as I could even without the supplies. As a result, I had to paint the racetrack before I drilled the holes for the cupholders because they hadn’t gotten in until hitting my project time for the bean-bag toss game. And because I did these steps out of order, the felt top was already installed initially, and my hole saw jumped the wood and slightly damaged the felt on one end. It is noticeable if you look, but not too bad.

2. Worry less about areas that will be hidden. I tried to make flush some areas that just didn’t matter, because they can’t be seen by anybody. This ate up precious project time.

3. Don’t buy the cheap(er) gaming felt from JoAnn’s, and spend the extra money on the billiard-speed cloth made expressly for poker tables. I worried about getting the cloth in time, so I went the JoAnn’s route. The felt needs shaving badly (like an Army beret when you first buy it) and I just haven’t had the time to do it right.

4. Try to install the felt top absolutely last. I had to remove it from the table at one point (cutting the cupholder holes, post damage event to the felt) and that gouged a small hole in the side of the felt. It is also noticeable, but not a big deal. As fyi, I can change out the felt later and nobody would see any issues.

5. For the racetrack, use a quality/premium plywood that is presanded on one side. I have the cheapest available at Home Depot…and it shows (at least to me it does). This is after about 4 coats of glossy black enamel paint. Which leads me to…

6. DON”T use glossy black enamel paint for the race track. The whisper vinyl contrasts against it, even though they are both black. A flat black paint would be much better, and would actually hide many imperfections because the vinyl and racetrack would be complementary.

7. Install the legs on the table just before painting the race track and putting the felt top on. This gives you a better sense of the playing height. Definitely cut off 2 inches from a standard banquet table leg set (29 1/2 high, now ~ 27 1/2 high)/

8. Don’t pooh-pooh away the complexity of the leg install. I did fine but had to redo things a bit, costing me about 2 hours extra work to get it where I was happy with it.

9. I got passably good with a jig saw. Truth be told, I’ve used my jig saw on this project more than I have all other times put together. It’s a very versatile tool, and I couldn’t have done the project without it (nor the bean bag toss).

10. The padding for the rail definitely requires two people. Don’t try to do it by yourself or you will be sadly disappointed. If Harry hadn’t come down to visit over Memorial Day I’d be hosed and very unhappy about my table results.

11. The weight of the table is tremendous. Note that I did not use three sheets of 3/4 in plywood, but only the base and the rail were that thickness. The racetrack was 5/8 inch. It’s a two person lift, and Shelley and I had difficulty in moving the table into the house. When the party ends tomorrow I plan to shanghai a guy to help me take it upstairs for its permanent storage place.

12. Contradicting myself in Item #11, there is some value in having all pieces be 3/4 thickness. Key is when you are installing the tee-nuts for the top to secure to the base. It’s a delicate process with a spade bit to countersink the tee nut and not make the remaining thickness of the top’s 5/8 be too thin. I just can’t imagine how we’d move the sucker around, and it’d make the legs wobbly.

13. I never did get the table legs I ordered from Rockler. After the SNAFU (mentioned below) running into a fourth day of “Out for Delivery) on UPS’s site, I called Rockler and canceled the order. I found comparable legs at Lowe’s. Cheaper, but perhaps not as sturdy but I have no reference to tell. I bought two sets so I can use them for a possible second table using the remaining oval scrap left after cutting the rail ensemble. The felt I have left looks like it will stretch to cover, so I could conceivable have a two table tourney at some point. The smaller table might fit 8, but will definitely fit 6 dudes okay.

Many thanks to Mark Junell and D. Creighton for their posting of project steps on the internet. While I didn’t follow things to a “t” they posted, their work saved much anxiety.

As weird as this sounds, I hope guys ask to either borrow the table or (better yet) invite me to their home game and bring the table. They’d need to have a truck to pick it up, me helping of course, but still it adds to the ambience tremendously. Not as much as real chips do, but still very cool. Our living room looks like it’s ready for poker! It was a fun project, but I’m happy it’s done. I’ve also finished the bean bag toss game, but that will be a separate post.