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Solid wood game board

855 Views 15 Replies 11 Participants Last post by KeepOnCuttin, Apr 13, 2022

KeepOnCuttin

Discussion Starter · Apr 11, 2022 (Edited by Moderator)

2

Hi all. New member though I've referred to Lumberjocks many times for expertise. I would categorize myself as a beginning novice woodworker. I want to make a game board, which most people refer to as Aggravation or Wahoo, but my family just calls marbles. I'm making 4 for my sibblings. But I want to make it special and not just the usual piece of plywood. I want to use two different species of exotic wood in each board and cut out like in this diagram and it would be 3/4" thick and glued. Now I do realize with the grains going different directions, it's not the best way to do it….but I'd like to try it this way instead of veneers. (I don't yet have a bandsaw). I would not glue it to a substrate and it would be floating in the frame. The largest pieces are 6×6 and the smaller ones 1.125×6. I'm thinking being the pieces are smaller they won't move much, at least not enough to break the glue joints. So can Iget away with it or is it doomed from the start?

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Unknowncraftsman

· #2 · Apr 11, 2022

My thoughts are your venturing out into uncharted territory.
What I know about exotic woods some are very difficult to work with as in cutting small pieces accurately
Exotics are expensive and some are toxic. Toxic to the woodworker
Some exotic woods are not completely dry.
My guess overall your project will probably come together and eventually some glue joints will open up. I doubt that it will render your game useless.
Good Luck what woods are you thinking Purple Heart?

Vandon

· #3 · Apr 11, 2022

Go with the standard hard maple and walnut. Can't go wrong.

wildwoodbybrianjohns

· #4 · Apr 12, 2022

This, good advice.

Go with the standard hard maple and walnut. Can t go wrong.

- Vandon

Tony1212

· #5 · Apr 12, 2022

I'll be the one to encourage you to follow your dreams

Use as much exotic wood as you want, but realize from the beginning that you may end up with a very expensive piece of firewood. If you're ok with that, have fun.

You may want to research how chess boards are made. Usually they will have thin (maximum thickness of 1/4") pieces of hardwood glued to a plywood base then banded around the edges by full thickness hardwood. So, if you start with a 1/2" plywood base and 1/4" hardwood squares, that would be about 3/4" thick, which could be banded with regular 3/4" hardwood around the edges to hide the plywood edges.

Different woods expand and contract differently throughout the year, and having a bunch of thick pieces of different woods COULD (but maybe not) cause cracks at some future time. Gluing thin pieces to a stable base helps prevent as much swelling and shrinking, thus preventing cracking of the top.

I see your diagram has mitered edge pieces. It is usually considered a bad idea to do that around solid wood as the expansion of the inside wood could cause the miter joints to separate. However, since plywood or MDF do not expand and contract with humidity, mitered edge pieces work well as long as you use the same species of wood (the pieces would swell and shrink a similar amount).

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dbw

· #6 · Apr 12, 2022

I see your diagram has mitered edge pieces. It is usually considered a bad idea to do that around solid wood as the expansion of the inside wood could cause the miter joints to separate. However, since plywood or MDF do not expand and contract with humidity, mitered edge pieces work well as long as you use the same species of wood (the pieces would swell and shrink a similar amount).

- Tony1212

Have you considered making the mitered frame "floating"? i.e., do not glue the board to the frame. Allow it to move.

rad457

· #7 · Apr 12, 2022

I would consider veneers on a plywood or basswood substrate.

KeepOnCuttin

Discussion Starter · #8 · Apr 12, 2022

AJ, yes, definitely venturing into the unknown as it will be my first time working with exotics, but have to start sometime! I have read about the toxicity of some exotics (also how the colored sawdust can get on everything) and I plan on wearing a ventalated mask and skin protection. I'm planning on making several different boards, and purpleheart and yellowheart would be one them (think Minnesota Vikings)
I was planning on using maple and walnut, but for the frames. But now I'm wondering if I can glue one species on top of the other? I've seen it done, and I plan on using splines on the corners. There would be a slot around the inside of the frames for the board to float.
Tony, I like your comment about following my dreams…this will be a special project for my 4 sibblings thanking them for caring for my dad during his last few months of his life. Yes I have researched chessboards, and see some are built solid and thick and some are veneered on plywood. Advantage with squares is the grain can all go one direction and glued edge grain to edge.
I might think about doing veneer as I'll be picking up my dad's bandsaw this Easter weekend, but I'm concerned about the wood warping if I resaw it. (I already have most of the wood…all 3/4 thick) Would cutting the wood to smaller pieces first avoid any warpage?
Thanks all for the comments and suggestions.

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EarlS

· #9 · Apr 12, 2022

If I follow your question I can answer your question based on a lot of personal experience.

Short answer - you can do it without any problems.

Long answer - I made a blog on how I make prairie style mosaics that might help you.

Unknowncraftsman

· #10 · Apr 12, 2022

Good Luck Alan post some pics when your done. I wouldn't mind hearing about your challenges,success on your journey.
Woodworking is a lot of creating problems then figuring out how to solve them. That's what keeps me going
Good Luck again

KeepOnCuttin

Discussion Starter · #11 · Apr 12, 2022

Thanks AJ.

Earl, Thanks for your confirmation that what I'm hoping to do might actually be doable. I also read about the drawer fronts you made on your workbench, which looks more like what I'm wanting to accomplish, being the wood is thicker and wider, and bigger pieces with the grains not all in the same direction. Do you think having the spacers adds to stability or aren't they necessary? Do you use acetone or equivalent to wipe the exotic wood before gluing? Any reason for using titebond 2 and not3? Your work is beautiful!

Phil32

· #12 · Apr 12, 2022

2

But now I'm wondering if I can glue one species on top of the other?

- KeepOnCuttin

Yes. . . yes you can.

Head Human body Jaw Gesture Wood

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Lazyman

· #13 · Apr 12, 2022 (Edited by Moderator)

Earl is definitely the expert on this but I will add some thoughts. The key here is that wood moves mostly across the grain and almost not at all in length. What will help in the design you have drawn up is that none of the pieces appear to be more than about 6" wide or long and where you have adjacent pieces where the grain runs 90° to each other, the spans are even less. If any of them were over about 12", you might start seeing minor problems. You may also have a problem anywhere end grain is glued to adjacent pieces, especially another piece of end grain. End grain just doesn't glue very well. One thought would be to use tongue and groove or splines between those joints. This will be invisible from the surface but convert those joints into side grain joints. While I would not glue these down to a backer board, you could have the glued up panel sitting on a plywood backer held in place by some screws in oversized holes or a few strategically placed dabs of glue. Having a backer board will also ensure that none of the end grain joints fail as it is handled or perhaps even dropped. A frame around it is it will be help to hide the edges but here you also need to allow it to float within the frame so that cumulative expansion doesn't break the frame apart someday.

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EarlS

· #14 · Apr 13, 2022

Thanks AJ.

Earl, Thanks for your confirmation that what I m hoping to do might actually be doable. I also read about the drawer fronts you made on your workbench, which looks more like what I m wanting to accomplish, being the wood is thicker and wider, and bigger pieces with the grains not all in the same direction. Do you think having the spacers adds to stability or aren t they necessary? Do you use acetone or equivalent to wipe the exotic wood before gluing? Any reason for using titebond 2 and not3? Your work is beautiful!

- KeepOnCuttin

I use the walnut strips mostly because I think of the design as a wood version of stained glass. It acts as a visual divider. I think it enhances the overall effect of the design. I don't think it adds to stability or anything like that.

I used the dark Titebond glue since the spacers are walnut. I've also used the Titebond transluscent glue. I'll also use regular Titebond if I'm glueing lighter colored wood. Basically, you don't want to see the glue line.

I don't use Titebond III for any of my projects. No reason it won't work though.

I made the charcuterie board for Christmas.

HokieKen

· #15 · Apr 13, 2022 (Edited by Moderator)

I think you'll be fine. Like others have said, with pieces that size, contraction and expansion will be minimal. With dense, tight-grained exotics, it tends to be minimal in any case. The floating frame is a good idea though because if you were going to see a problem with the design down the road, it would most likely be at those miters. I'm the happy owner of a few of Earl's impressive pieces and have never seen any problems with any of them

Edit to add: I made this checkerboard about 5 years ago and the edging was the most aggravating part of the design. I eventually ended up using the butt joints with the sides that ran with the grain attached with dowels and glued along the length and the ends that ran cross grain only attached with dowels. Then pinned the corners. There are gaps at those pinned joints now. But they functioned as designed and didn't cause any joint failures but it looks kinda crappy. I wish I had opted for a floating frame instead ;-)

KeepOnCuttin

Discussion Starter · #16 · Apr 13, 2022

I had spent hours searching on internet for a board game or cutting board made of alternating pieces of wood and couldn't find anythinng…and in 2 days since joing here I get a great example from Earl. Your charcuterie board is exactly the example I was looking for. Clever how you put a small piece in between 2 larger pieces so they aren't end grain to end grain.
I had thought about using some sort of joinery like t&g or lap joint for the end grain to long grain joints, but I'm just afraid with the dense exotics, I'd end up splintering them.
I believe I know where I'm going with this now, and I appreciate the advice and confidence you all have given me. I'll be sure to show some photos when I complete this ( whether it's displayed on a table or being tossed in a bonfire! )

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