Building myself a poker table.

[Jdurg]

I can't seem to find my first post on the subject, but perhaps that's because I posted it on another board or I named it really weird.  This is more woodworking than a project announcement so that is why I'm posting it here.   

I'm an avid poker player and since buying my house last year I've been trying to find the right time to host my weekly poker game at my house.  The problem is that I didn't have a table to play on.  My dining room has been COMPLETELY empty as I didn't even have a table to eat on!  I was looking around for good tables but the ones I would want that would suit my needs were waaaaaaaaaay too expensive.  We're talking close to $1,000!  So I figured I could build one myself.

I borrowed a table saw from a friend of mine and picked up an air compressor and nail gun to help build it.  The base is made out of white pine with white pine base and crown molding (It's all base molding but I put it on upside down for the top portion) with red oak corner trim and four red oak Empire Style table legs for stability.  I put some foam and felt on the base to keep it from scratching the floor.

The top is made out of two 2'x4' cheap plywood boards that were attached together with some standard 1"x3" support braces.  I cut it into an octagon shape by clamping the two pieces together and using my circular saw to cut off the corners.  This gave me an almost perfect octagon.  (I made the mistake of not measuring the boards and assuming they were 2'x4'.  They were actually a little bit off so the octagon wasn't perfect).

On top of the playing surface is the 1/4" closed cell foam and VERY high quality casino grade felt.  This stuff does not ball up, is super smooth, and VERY strong.  Well worth the price I paid.

The chip trays are made out of oak plywood cut to give about 6" of exposed surface.  The pieces were screwed into the supports on the bottom of the playing surface.  I then used brackets to secure them together and level the surface.

I still need to pick up some solid oak boards for the corners where some funky angles will be cut and the cup holders (placed at the corners of the playing surface right now) will be inset by cutting a 3" hole in the corner pieces.  Oak plywood scrap was cut to the proper height for the side support pieces since the tops won't be seen.  I'll need to use my father's router table to round over the edges of those corner pieces and the inner trim that will go up against the playing surface.  I've got those inner trim pieces cut, but not attached yet. 

So the pictures below are where I stand right now.  I need to also get some wide oak planks for the external trim and put some support blocks on the bottom to attach those boards with some small finishing nails.  Right now, I just put on the pre-stain treatment and will soon sand that smooth and apply the first coat of Vermont Maple colored stain.  I'm staining it in parts right now and will put the polyurethane gloss coat on once everything is built.  The base has already been stained and polyd.  Overall, this will probably end up costing me about $500 which is half of what it would have cost to buy one.   

[Jdurg]

Alright.  No pictures because I didn't feel like breaking the camera out, but the first coat of stain has been applied and I honestly just about cried when I saw how beautiful it looked.  It looks like an honest to god high quality poker table.  It's sturdy, it doesn't wobble or tilt, and it looks incredible.  Once I've got the final coat of stain on there I'll take a picture.  When I need to use the table to actually play cards on Monday (while the table's not finished, it's finished enough to be able to play on it), I'll put some Plastic Wrap on the stained surface so that there will be ZERO chance of any water or moisture getting on there.  That will provide enough protection to keep it safe.

Meanwhile, below are drawings of the other parts that I will need to still cut and how it will go together.  I think visual is better than words. 

[Paulson]

 Hey that's looking great...I have a octagon shaped table myself
 I had mine shipped over from Las Vegas...the shipping cost more
 than the table...lol

[Jdurg]

Thanks.  This is my first "real" woodworking project.  Sure I built my CP already, but that was something where imperfections were fine as Bondo and lots of paint/putty could cover it up.  With actual wood, there's no way to hide big mistakes.  It really stuns me when I walk into the room and see this beautiful piece of furniture sitting there, and then being able to say "I built that myself."  It's been a great experience and I've learned a LOT of things about woodworking.  I can't wait to get the last trim pieces and VERY carefully cutting them so there are no gaps at all.  I don't even think I'll take measurements.  I'll just hold the pieces up to the table, draw the lines, and cut based on the lines I drew and not any measurements. 

[Paulson]

 I'll post a pick of mine once it get's light

[Jdurg]

Looking forward to seeing it! 

Right now I've already applied the second coat of stain after lightly sanding the first coat down with some 400 grit sandpaper.  There are some areas on the wood where I'm guessing some chemical had gotten on it because the stain is applying kind of blotchy.  It's noticeable to me, but after letting the stain sit for a while when I rubbed it in the blotchiness went away a bit.  Once it's lightly sanded, it becomes much smoother.  When the polyurethane goes on, it will still be super smooth and glossy. 

With the second coat dry, I can now work on making templates for the corner pieces.  I'm purposely making them a tiny bit bigger as I'd rather have the top pieces be a tiny bit too big as I can always use my orbital sander with some high grit sandpaper and smooth away the extra 1/16th of an inch.  Yeah it will be a bunch of work, but I can't make the pieces bigger if they're too small.

[Jdurg]

Okey dokey.  The second coat of stain is on and it has dried.  I worked on the templates for the corner pieces and got that done.  Now that I know how wide of a solid oak board I'll need to make these parts, I can go to Home Depot to buy the oak.  Sadly, I probably won't get anything done this weekend as Tropical Storm Hannah will be moving up the coast and putting insane amounts of wind and rain down.  I live surround by trees and my basement tends to flood when it rains hard.  So I will be spending time hoping to god that a tree doesn't collapse (One did this past Tuesday on a calm, clear night as it just was old and the branches up top were too heavy for it.  That frightens me).  Also, I probably won't have power at some point so the weekend is a wash.  (Figuratively and Literally.  :p )  Then, I also have to worry about Hurricane Ike because he is taking a path VERY similar to the hurricanes which have hit up here in New England.  I'm crossing my fingers.

Anyway with the second, and probably next to last, coat of stain on, it's looking pretty good.  I've placed the interior trim on the top and the corner closest to the outer edge will be rounded down with a 1/4" roundover bit on a router table.  The white templates were placed down there with the cup holders on top for reference.  I also see that I'll probably have to put some shoe molding down on the inner chip wells to cover any tiny gaps that might be there.  I'll see once all the parts are assembled.

[Paulson]

 Here you go...complete with 6 matching chairs & 500 Paulson poker chips 

 

[Jdurg]

I've seen that table before!     A friend of mine bought one for his poker room, and that's kind of the inspiration for me building one myself.  His is made out of Luan and some veneer and trim work.  Makes the table much lighter, but with the same level of sturdiness.  It's a good table that can withstand the drunkest, and most physical players out there.   

[Paulson]

 Btw...watch out for those cigarettes!!! Even when ultra careful it only takes a
 spark to hit the nylon. Mine has the odd mark but it's about 7 years old now.

                                   P (uk)

[Jdurg]

Well, I don't smoke cigarettes and don't allow smoking in my house so that won't be a problem.     I went to Home Depot today and got my 3" hole saw with the arbor for it.  Hopefully it's sturdy enough to cut through that oak.  That stuff is TOUGH!  No matter what I do, I always seem to burn the edge when I cut it so I've cut everything a bit wide so that I can use my sander to sand away the burn marks.  I discovered that I need to borrow a band saw to make the smaller cuts on the interior side since circular saws and miter saws can't cut up to the edge.  Though if I lose power tomorrow due to the tropical storm (A Tropical Storm watch was issued for my area) I will spend the day with the shades drawn for light and some LED flashlights to cut those angles with a regular hand saw.

I also found some cove molding that will look GREAT on the inside of the chip wells if I end up needing to use it.  I'm getting psyched because in about three weeks this should be completely done. 

[Jdurg]

Wow.  I am freaking exhausted! I tried out a small hack-saw that I had lying around and found that with some patience it can cut through the oak board without any bevels or funky angles and a nice straight cut. The bad thing is that it requires a lot of effort out of me to cut through it, and the oak dulls the blades pretty quickly.  I haven't been able to hit the gym for the past couple months due to an insane amount of work I've had to do, but I think after cutting these last pieces tonight and tomorrow I'll be pretty jacked.       So it looks like I won't need a band saw which is a good thing because my father doesn't have one.

Now when I get that router table, I'll go and put in a straight bit and just take off a little bit on each side of these pieces to smooth it out.  I just really hope this storm doesn't flood me too much.   

[Jdurg]

Ugggh.  I've discovered that I've got one hell of a problem to deal with.  It looks like my chip tray boards didn't attach to the playing surface in a level fashion.    Some of them are level, but a few are pitched downward by about 1/8".  This means that I am going to have to do some MAJOR fancy cutting when attaching the rest of the pieces so the outer trim will go on level.  I think now that the cove molding I bought will HAVE to be used as there will definitely be some gaps.    I'll have to think for a while how to fix this.  Hopefully, I'll be able to loosen some of the screws from underneath and level it out.  Wish me luck.

[Jdurg]

Today I finally got to use the router table and rounded over the edges of the corner pieces and the interior trim.  The problem is that I can't seem to find a way to attach the interior trim to the playing surface.  Screws won't work since the screws used to attach the support pieces of the surface are hidden by the felt.  I can't screw from underneath since the boards are only 3/4" thick, and I don't want to mess up and have a screw come up through the playing surface.  Anybody have any ideas on how to attach it?  I was thinking about using my nail gun and successfully used it to attach one piece, but when I got to the next piece the nails didn't seem to penetrate enough and I also had to hold the nail gun at an odd angle which scared me half to death.