Christmas 2019

[royce]

Thanks
Colt
Dkroth
Slowtwitch
Jeep

Got the second coat of epoxy on, it's building up nicely.

 

[royce]

And soldered up the copper corner caps.

 

[royce]

After attempting to brighten the white play pieces with wire wheel and acid, I gave up trying to get enough contrast between the white and black pieces.
As much as I dislike the idea of painting these, I went ahead and painted them.
Started on the white and did not care for it.

Royce

 

[royce]

Then the black, I did not mind it as much as the white, but still not satisfied.

Royce

 

[PugetDude]

Royce, Nice work on the design and execution. Superb craftsmanship, just like the vise. When I saw this thread, my first thought was that the pieces were all going to be about three feet tall....

Maybe wire wheel the white pieces and hit them with a coat of clear?

 

[royce]

Thanks Puget,
My bride picked up some speckled paint this afternoon.
We'll see how it looks tomorrow.

Royce

 

[royce]

Painted and clear coated the playing pieces today.
I think they need a coat of satin clear to knock the shine down a touch.

Royce

 

[royce]

Also, cut some finger grooves in the board and box, as well as fastened the copper corners to the board.

Royce

 

[royce]

And got the dividers for the box cut out.
I'll attempt to wrap them in felt tomorrow.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

Final product is certifiable Royce quality. Good job.

 

[Bears Fan]

Top job Royce

 

[LXCam]

Amazing Royce! You never cease to blow us away with the creativity bud.

But!, now you just need to make two miniature manual backhoes with grappling buckets for moving the pieces around

 

[royce]

Thanks
Pontiac
Bears
LXC
Funny you mentioned backhoe, finished up painting and building a frame for this mini-excavator a couple weeks ago.
It was salvaged from a job and will be gifted to our youngest grandson.
He is 2 years old and plumb crazy for equipment and trucks.

Royce

 

[KMScott]

Wow Royce, just love it. Nothing better then a gift hand built for Family members. I like the horse the best.

 

[royce]

Thanks,
Kevin
Yes, it is so joyous.

Got the felt glued to the dividers today.
It was tedious but came out ok.

Royce

 

[royce]

Need to glue the leathers on the playing pieces and this project is complete.
It turned out to be a bit more than I bargained for, but turned out lovely, at least to my eye.

Royce

 

[Boilerhouse]

That is amazing. Great job Royce.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Killer gift!!!

 

[royce]

Thanks
Boilerhouse
Bigblue

Got started on a cribbage board today.
It is a nice piece of spaulted birch crotch
It is slated for another daughter and her family.
The neat part of it is that it was cleared from the property she was raised on.

The one side has a bit more Spaulting.

Royce

 

[royce]

And the other side has some nice flames up the middle.

Royce

 

[tarbellb]

R
O
Y
C
E

 

[larry4406]

Awesome detail and creativity!

Take some of your copper, make an oval piece, put your name and date on it (or a message to your daughter), and fasten it to the bottom somewhere.

 

[royce]

Thanks
Tarbellb
Larry

Not a lot of progress today, but got the shop cleaned up.
Feels good to have the benches clear and the tools back where they belong.

Also glued the leathers on the bottom of chess pieces and made some fillers for the empty compartments in the box.

Royce

 

[royce]

And attempted to design an overlay for a track on the crib board.
Cut a pattern that preserved as much of the figure in the wood as allowed.
It really does not look so good, so I'll give that some more thought.

Royce

 

[royce]

After a few different designs, got a pattern that looks ok.

Royce

 

[royce]

And transferred the pattern to a sheet of copper, made from flattened tube.
Holes laid out and center punched.
On to drilling, then cutting.

Royce

 

[royce]

Slipped out to the shop after dinner, got the copper track cut and drilled.

Royce

 

[KMScott]

Looking good Royce. When the kids were young we would have a cribbage tournament once a week. Looser brought up fire wood for the week, third place did the dishes, second place did the trash winner got off the whole week. Games got pretty testy. Going through 10 cords a Winter I hated to loose. The copper inlay is a nice touch.

 

[royce]

Those were some high stakes Kevin, I can see how it would get intense.

Finished shaping the board today and got a coat of epoxy on, to stabilize it.
That really brought out the colors.

Royce

 

[royce]

The epoxy also brought out some nice curly figure.

Royce

 

[royce]

Then hammer beveled the copper track and painted some pegs.

Royce

 

[royce]

Lastly, squared off some SS screws for increment markers.

Royce

 

[3baygarage]

Amazing work on the chess set. The speckled finish looks great. Makes me want to play.

 

[royce]

Thanks 3bay,
The inspiration for the chess set came from playing on thanksgiving with the grandkids.
Makes me want to play, too

Royce

 

[royce]

Worked on making a place to stow a deck of cards and the pegs.
Did not think of anything cool, so settled on a recess with some simple swing latches, made from a couple brass valve tags
Simple to operate, functions well.

Royce

 

[royce]

For stowing the pegs, bored the end of the track and used a antique tag for a swing gate.
It even has her favorite number on it.

Royce

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

As usual a well thought out unique project.
Tell me something Royce, do your projects take shape well working on them or do you have the whole project thought out before you even start.

 

[royce]

Thanks again Pontiac,
Generally, they start with a piece of material, that evokes a thought, that moves towards a concept, which turns into a vision, from there a plan is made.
Now then, when the thought, concept, vision or plan go south, is when the improvising starts.
For me, it is common to make changes as things don't look like whatever was in mind.

Put a couple coats of satin varnish on the wood and some scorched linseed oil on the copper today.

Royce

 

[royce]

Also got it assembled, that leaves drilling the peg holes in the wood and then glueing some felt on the bottom.

Royce

 

[gearhead1]

Awesome work Royce!