Table - Games Table, Woodworking Plans
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Build this Fantastic Games Table
S. L. Hardwoods - Quality Timber Stockist
www.slhardwoods.co.uk
&
Cutting List in inches
Using a 5 foot length of 8 x
2in mahogany, cut up as
follows
2 x 2 x 28 4off
3 1/2 x 1 x 24 2off
3 1/2 x 1 x 24 2off
2 1/4 x 3/8 x 29 2off
2 1/4 x 3/8 x 17 2off
3/4 ply x 30 x 28 1off
Mahogany veneer 30x15
Tool Box
Router with a vee cutter.
Also a cutter for buscuit
joints
Circular or bandsaw
Suitable drill for dowel-
ling
Plane and cabinet scraper
Coping saw
Stanley knife
S. L. Hardwoods - Quality Timber Stockist
www.slhardwoods.co.uk
Ken Shemilt decided to remake an old project, this time
spending a little more time on refining its finsihed appear-
ance. He explains how it was done.
Legs
So as to get all the sawing done in one go I reduced the 8 x 2in
plank to the four lengths of 2 x 2in for the legs, 4 x 1in for the
rails and sufficient 1 x 1in for the edge moulding.
When I first made one of these tables about ten years ago I was
so impressed with its design and mechanism that I concentrated
soley on its functional purpose and gave very little thought to its
finished appearance.
The four legs were then planed and thicknessed to finish at 1 3/
8in square. In order to shape the feet it was necessary to remove
3in from the end of each piece. These were then marked up with
the required shape using a template, then cut to the line with a
coping saw and bandsaw.
Now that I am in retirement, and can enjoy the luxury of being
able to ignore the time element of any project, it seemed to be a
good opportunity to take on this project again.
The simplest way to obtain a perfect finish to these was by use of
a sanding disc and a 1in diameter sanding drum, both of which
were simply made and mounted in the lathe.
It also gave me the opportunity to improve its usefulness by
making some slight adjustments to its size. Its weekly use for a
game of Mah Jong demanded a little more space than the usual
card game.
The next step was to taper the legs, reducing to a 7/8in square
section at the bottom. The bulk of the removal was carried out
with careful use of my circular saw after marking up, then
finished to the line with my jack plane.
Selection of Timber
It is fortunate that a piece of furniture of this size can be pro-
duced from one piece of timber 8 x 2in and five foot long.
For the next step of fluting the legs it was necessary to construct a
box jig, as detailed in the sketch, so that each leg could be
positioned onto the centre line (taken byt he router) and also
positioned vertically at either end so the router vee cutter started
and finished at the required depth. it pays to do a dummy run on
a test piece before attempting the legs to avoid making any
mistakes.
For the top I selected a piece of good quality hardwood faced 3/
4in ply an sufficient Brazilian veneer to cover half its surface.
Even though the need for green baize would occur much later I
was able to source a supply by paying a visit to a small company
who specialised in the repair and recovery of snooker tables. I
was fortunate in that they had just recovered a professional table
and were able to sell me the whole cloth that had been taken off
for £20.
It may be necessary to select the two best adjacent faces on each
leg to be routered or you may be lucky to have mahogany that is
perfect on all four faces. It pays to mark very accurately the
centre line of each flute so that it can be positioned in the jig box.
Apart from having to vacuum off the cue chalk and cut around
two cigarette burns I had enough baize for half a dozen card
tables and it was of the highest quality.
I should perhaps mention, at this point, that another reason why I
prefer to cut off the feet is to allow this routing to be done.
S. L. Hardwoods - Quality Timber Stockist
www.slhardwoods.co.uk
This is now a good time to reconnect the feet, which should be
accurately drilled through the centre to take a 4in screw, next
drilling through the centres at the bottom of each leg with a pilot
hole. The feet can be screwed on at the same time using a small
amount of Araldite to bond them together.
humps before gluing down.
Using a good quality PVA glue I coated the surface of the ply
before pressing on the veneer. Placing a sheet of newspaper on
top, I then used the other half of the table top to press the veneer
on, spreading the load with two lengths of 3 x 2in straight timber
and four G clamps.
Depending on how carefully the legs and feet have been matched
up they should require some sanding to produce a satisfying
finish.
After allowing the glue to set overnight I roughly trimmed the
surplus veneer from the edges, once again clamping the two
boards together ran the plane over the edges.
Rails
For appearance and strength I decided that the rails should be
finished to a dimension of 3 1/4 x 7/8in and that 310mm dowels
would be enough for each joint. Using a marking gauge and set
square I marked up the dowel positions and popped each one
with a fine punch before drilling. The final test, as always, is to
pop in the dowels witha small amount of glue and clamp them
together, checking for squareness before leaving overnight to set.
Using a suitable router cutter I then prepared the moulding to
finish off the edges of the table top. Carefully mitreing the
corners I then used by own biscuit joints, which had been made
up from 3/4in planed beech, to attach the moulding to the edges
of the two boards.
In order to achieve two things I cut two lengths of mahogany to
finish at 2 x 3/8in with one edge finsihed half round. I then cut
these so that they could be attached to the bottom of each rail.
This resulted in a finishing bead on the outside, whilst providing
a means on the inside of supporting the bottom of the box-like
interior.
I kept in mind that on the top the opened table it was necessary
for the moulding to stand proud by 1/16th of the inch in order to
accommodate the baize.
I had obtained special card hinges for this project which remain
completely flush with the top when in the open position. These
need to be recessed into the mahogany edging with great care,
owing to their unusal shape on the underside.
To p
The most important thing to remember with the top is that the
two halves need to be identical, with the edges absolutely sqaure.
This was best achieved by temporarily nailing the two together
and planing as one.
Before assembling the top to the table, I carried out the staining
and French polishing. I used a brown mahogany stain applied
with a soft brush and allowed to dry out overnight. A further
careful light sanding with 400 grade wet and dry paper was then
done. I finally French polished again using a rubber in the
traditional manner.
Now the topmost piece was to be veneered. Cutting the veneer
slightly oversize, I dampened it and allowed it to remain over-
night between the two boards. This helped to remove any slight
S. L. Hardwoods - Quality Timber Stockist
www.slhardwoods.co.uk
Assembly
I cut the plywood bottom to fit the inside of the table which was
then glued and screwed using 1/2in brass screws to the inside lip
created by the bottom moulding.
Useful Tips
A template for marking out the feet can be made from
thin ply or MDF.
To ensure the position for the pivot is in the correct place
use only two of the screws to secure the underside of the
table top. By trial and error, these can easily be moved in
any direction before finally securing with the four screws.
When trimming the baize on the finished top, use a steel
straight edge pressed hard up to the raised edge and run
the Stanley knife along it.
When using the router box to do the fluting, I found it
simpler to secure the top end of the leg with a G clamp. A
single packing piece should be made to get the correct
depth position at either end and the two thumb screws can
be used to secure the sideways position at the bottom of
the leg.
As a finishing touch on the top edge of the table I glued
on a strip of baize which gives a smoother action when
pivoting the table top around to open and close.
A 1/2in facing strip should be used to conceal the
plywood edge which is exposed at the back when the table
is in the closed position. This can be butted up to the
moulding.
By positioning two 1in deep blocks of wood on opposite sides to
support by bridgepiece the hole was drilled in the correct position
to allow the securing pin to be positioned and the top to swivel
from its closed to open positions.
Fitting the Baize
The only thing that now remained to complete the games table
was to fit the green baize to the top. This was done very care-
fully, with the table in the open position, noting that the gap in
the centre between the two leaves was no more than 1/16th of an
inch.
A coating of PVA glue was applied
evenly with a flat spreader. The baize,
which has been cut slightly larger, was
pressed down. iworked from the centre
outwards to remove any wrinkles,
pressing well into the edges. Once
again this was allowed to dry overnight
before trimming with a sharp scalpel or
Stanley knife.
The timber for this project is available direct from S. L. Hardwoods,
either as sawn or planed all round material.
© Ken Shemilt & Traditional Woodworking 1999
Sawn = £58.75*
P.A.R = £100.05*
* Excludes baize and hinges
Prices include VAT
Tel: 0208 683 0292 Fax: 0208 683 0404
E-Mail: info@slhardwoods.co.uk
S. L. Hardwoods - Quality Timber Stockist
www.slhardwoods.co.uk
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