a pursuit of fruitless endeavors and endless refinements

The Table Has Turned

I’ve been slowly working on creating 6′ x 4′ gaming table with storage underneath for various miniatures games and I finally wrapped up the final touches.

What took so long was getting in laminate samples to figure out the right one.  The biggest issue was the table was 6′ x 4′ and the common laminate size is 8′ x 4′. While that will fit the length just fine, the width will be the same size and laying laminate is not the easiest thing to get straight. With a sheet being the exact dimension of the table, I’d have to get the layout exact or be forced to do a lot of rework and never get the table quite square.

I had to opt for the next size up, usually 5′ x 12′ or 5′ x 10′ and that makes for some expensive laminate.  I ended up going with a cheaper pattern to save a good amount of cash but at the end of the day, I was happy with the choice.

Laying the laminate down wasn’t easy and I almost botched the whole thing from the start cutting the oversized piece down to size. The laminate split and ripped but luckily it went along the opposite edge of where I needed so disaster was averted. The contact cement used to adhere the laminate to the surface is pretty noxious stuff so we did it out in the street.  It was an aerosol spray and if I had it to do over again, I’d go with the can you paint on as one edge of the laminate didn’t stick down.  Some wood glue and clamping later and all was good.

After the laminate contact cement cured, I used the router to cut it flush with the edge. Then I painted up my edge trim and glued/nail gunned it into place.   The results worked very well.  There were some minor cosmetic things I’ll have to touch up since I didn’t do a great job accurately cutting my mitered corners but otherwise the table is ready to see play.

The project was a lot more involved than I thought and took a bit more effort to get it done right but I learned a bit in the process and I’m really glad I took my time getting things right as I see the table working out for many a great game to come.

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1 Comment

  1. Russ Spears

    Christian that looks really great! Looking back at the original pics it’s great to see how well it all turned out. Excellent choice on the laminate – I would have thought you’d just cut some really good wood if you hadn’t pointed it out.

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