Crokinole Boards - New techniques

[reubenjames]

Hello!

We are getting teased with some warmer weather here and I "wasted" my whole last weekend cleaning up the garage ("the shop") so that I could take advantage of the next warm day that came along.

My first major woodworking project, five years ago, was a Crokinole board. Crokinole is what they refer to as a "dexterity game" in hardcore board game circles. It's a bit like Carrom or table-top shuffleboard, etc.

I've made two of these in my life, and I'd like to make a batch of them for family and friends. With that, I'm hoping to refine my technique in a few places. Where else would I go but here for advice?

Here is a picture of my first board (no judging harshly):

First Board

crokinole.jpg (869 KiB) Viewed 8801 times

This was made before I had my Shopsmith, in my basement, with no workbench (though I had an ultra-cheap, awful Workmate knock-off) and mainly using a cheap miter saw, a router, and an old drill. For all that, it plays decently well and is only mildly ugly.

I couldn't find a picture of my second board on my computer, but things I did differently for the second board:

• I didn't route the lines in. I used a blue stain on the playing surface, and then I used a sharp nail and a jig to just cut through the top layer of stained plywood

• I used screws covered with short lengths of that air tubing you get with fish tanks for the posts, instead of the dowels in the first board. The dowels were not drilled straight (I didn't have my drill attachment for that yet), but with the attachment and the screws on the second board, it worked much better

• Used a one-step bar top finish for the playing surface, instead of the 10 or so coats of water-based poly on the board above

Those were the main improvements. The second board looked much cleaner, overall, but as I start up to make more of these, I am looking for a couple of better solutions to the following problems:

• Playing lines: I am still not liking the way I make the lines. I have a thin (1/16") straight router bit that I would like to try instead of the 1/8" I used on the first board. But I am worried about tearing, and I really need to fill in the routed line with something. I am considering a colored epoxy for that. However, if I could come up with another technique (very thin stenciling, perhaps), it would be good. A UV LED printer would probably be the best, but I think that's prohibitively expensive.

• Finish of playing surface: The bar top coat was quick and easy, but it doesn't play as well, even with waxing. It's a bit too slow. The poly finish plays well, but it seemed to be a bit hazy as I built it up. I don't know if that was a technique issue with my between-coat sanding, or drying time, or needing to use oil-based poly instead (I think I chose water based because of quicker drying times). Some advice on a thick, glass-smooth finish would be welcomed.

• Circle rails: The boards I made have octagonal rails (which was difficult to do, and mine weren't perfect), which is traditional, but most serious players prefer a circular rail. That means bending wood (something I've not done). From the circular handmade boards I've seen in real life, it looks like they re-sawed thin strips to bend around and then laminated them together around the perimeter. I also considered that if I could get my kerfing measurements perfect, I could use that kerfing as a decorative element (since it would show), but I don't know if that's feasible. I don't mind attempting some thin re-sawing. New bandsaw table with ripfence comes in tomorrow! I already know what I'm planning to use the new circle cutter on!

Thoughts of any kind are appreciated!

[ERLover]

How about an inlay instead of the colored epoxy?
I have used MinWax water poly and not found it to be cloudy, but I only applied 3 coats. Water born polys are suppose to be the clearest and least yellowing of finishes.
I dont know how large in diameter your board is, but just a thought, cut out your outer ring from a board, use the center cut out on another board for the center with a contrasting wood ring cut from another board and use that center piece in the first one. Fill the gap with an inlay or other suitable material.

[reubenjames]

How about an inlay instead of the colored epoxy?

Inlay might be fun, with a classier look.

I have used MinWax water poly and not found it to be cloudy, but I only applied 3 coats. Water born polys are suppose to be the clearest and least yellowing of finishes.

Yeah, it wasn't horribly cloudy, but it kept a milky appearance to it. Maybe my coats were too thick. Again, could be application or between-coat technique on my side.

I dont know how large in diameter your board is, but just a thought, cut out your outer ring from a board, use the center cut out on another board for the center with a contrasting wood ring cut from another board and use that center piece in the first one. Fill the gap with an inlay or other suitable material.

That is clever. If I wanted to "waste" some wood, could do it without any gap and let the wood change-over be the line, which would be razor thin. Differing wood types or at least differing stains to differentiate. I'll have to dwell on that idea more.

The diameter of the playing surface is 26". Thanks for replying!

[thunderbirdbat]

You could always use a couple of contrasting woods or stains/dyes for the different rings and sections. That way each scoring ring would be defined by the color change. It could be made similar to how a chess or cutting board is made. For example, center could be maple, the middle ring walnut and the outer quadrants alternating oak and cherry.

[Mike907]

You could also use powdered metal inlay for your playing lines. Use your 1/16" router bit to lay out the lines, fill them with your desired metal, and glue in place with thin CA. After it has set, sand the lines down flush with the surface.

This is just one source, and other metals are available:

https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/sear ... al+powders

Mike

[reible]

I have no idea how this works/plays but one thing I would need to know to provide any useful information is what size are we talking about?

Ed

[rjent]

I have no idea how this works/plays but one thing I would need to know to provide any useful information is what size are we talking about?

Ed

From the third post:

The diameter of the playing surface is 26"

[reubenjames]

I have no idea how this works/plays but one thing I would need to know to provide any useful information is what size are we talking about?

Hi, Ed. A tournament size deck (the playing surface) has a diameter of 26", which is what the board shown is. The base or gutter (in between the deck and the rails) has to be at least 2" wide at its narrowest point (if octagonal) or at least 2" wide all the way around (if doing a round board). The board pictured is probably in the neighborhood of 32" across.

So, for bending purposes on a circular board with a diameter of 30", if that's what we're getting at, we'd be looking at a circumference of approximately 7'10" long?

[reible]

It sounds like you are interested in making it round and with that large a diameter I think an outer ring of bent wood should be pretty easy. I would look up steam bending and get some back ground on how that works because that might be the easiest way to do so. I would look at making a jig to bend around and since you will be doing a few this is well worth the effort.

The length you need sounds about right, (30/12)*pi.

Wood selection will also play an issue. Some woods bend better then others.

Since you have a router that would be a good way to make a circle for both the jig and for the actual board. Even if your choice is to make an octagon and then cut that into a circle on both the inside and outside a router will do a really good job for you but will require you to make a circle cutting jig.

For the playing lines perhaps a router jig would be best, investing the time in making the jig assures that the boards will be inconstant uniform. You need only do a half or even just a quarter and then flip/rotate to do the other sections.

The holes can be drilled but one will have to determine if they can be done on the shopsmith, that being that a shopsmith has a certain limit as from the tubes to the bit. If this is make as parts then I think that will not be an issue. The drill press will allow you to keep the holes vertical.

Ed

I have no idea how this works/plays but one thing I would need to know to provide any useful information is what size are we talking about?

Hi, Ed. A tournament size deck (the playing surface) has a diameter of 26", which is what the board shown is. The base or gutter (in between the deck and the rails) has to be at least 2" wide at its narrowest point (if octagonal) or at least 2" wide all the way around (if doing a round board). The board pictured is probably in the neighborhood of 32" across.

So, for bending purposes on a circular board with a diameter of 30", if that's what we're getting at, we'd be looking at a circumference of approximately 7'10" long?

[reubenjames]

Thanks, everyone, for the ideas and advice. I'm going to look into some of these and I'll put up pictures of progress and/or questions I run into along the way. This has given me some great points to consider!