Jdurg

It took me nearly an entire project, but I've learned that woodworking is NOT an easy thing to jump into. I think that my attempt to build a poker table was a bit too much to start out with. It looked, and in my head seemed, like an easy task but the little nuances and potential issues which reared their ugly head turned out to be a bit too much.

When I finally realized that my center playing surface was not a perfect octagon, I should have stopped right then and there. If I had stopped and started over, I could have made sure that all angles were a perfect 22.5 degress and saved myself a lot of hassle. I didn't realize that the small error in the beginning would compound itself into far more difficult errors later on.

The second error that I figured I could work around but it turns out I couldn't, was not having the chip wells the same size and depth. I did my best to get them all to come out the same length from the edge of the playing surface and meet at tight mitered corners, but they didn't.

The final error was not ensuring that these chip wells were level. This turned out to be my biggest mistake. With some of them sloping downward and only a few remaining straight, getting the rest of the table together has basically become impossible. As I cut the outer trim pieces, the non-exact octagon shape resulted in some of the pieces having mitered corners that extend beyond the adjascent piece. Of the 8 corners, only three of them came out tight and exact. The rest have quite a bit of overhang (as much as 1/4 inch) that I will have to use a hand plane, wood rasp, and a LOT of sanding to even up. This sucks. In addition, the method of joining these corner pieces to the chip wells is a pain in the ass and resulted in some of the nail-gun nails not going all the way through. (Either because of not enough air pressure in the gun, or REALLY hard section of oak that it had to plow through and the nails weren't sharp enough). So I'm going to need to take a grinder and grind/cut away the exposed nail, then use some fancy putty to cover up the surrounding wood damage.

I still need to get the corner pieces cut again (the ones I've already cut are simply not going to work), and then get some quarter round molding for the bottom edge of the outer trim. I'm then going to have to cut the side pieces and make some funky miter angles thanks to the unlevel bottom trays and the non true outer trim pieces. Finally, to cover the small gaps that will appear on the inside chip wells I'll need to make some more fancy miter cuts on the molding to cover this.

Still, the table does look pretty good for someone who's never worked with wood before. Also, while this project makes me sad, it also gives me the urge to start another one that is more simple and will be less of a hassle to accomplish. I didn't have the best tools or techniques for this project, but I have learned a LOT.

1): Start with something small and simple until you get the techniques down pat and can repeat simple cuts and assembly without issue.

2): MEASURE EVERYTHING MULTIPLE TIMES!!!! Never assume that a piece of wood is exactly the length/width/thickness as stated.

3): If you notice something is off early, stop right there and re-do it. Those tiny, seemingly small issues at the start will compound themselves and become a nightmare at the end. Save yourself some time and do it right at the start and it will be MUCH easier to finish it correctly at the end.

4): Don't try and be perfect. A beginner is going to have some issues that will show up at the end and you should not let this disappoint you. Even though are major issues with my poker table that are going to take a lot of work to fix, and may not even be fixable, I'm still happy to have a functional table to work with.

So my next project is going to be a simple 10"x10"x5" lead lined wooden oak box for my Uranium and Thorium metal samples. This should be easy to do and getting the lead lining and nice rich felt covering over the lead will create a very nice, and very functional workpiece. I'll start this once all of the difficult finishing work on my poker table is done.

I'm still sad that I didn't get this to come out like I wanted it to, but I have learned my lessons and will remember them for the rest of my life.

knotscott

If it was easy you'd get bored and move on to something else....and you'd have all those tools just sittin' there! Keep at it, you're next one will go better.

johnjf0622

Jdurg
It is your first project don't be so hard on yourself. You tackled a piece that would scare the hell out of a lot of people starting out. Trial and error, I feel that is what learning is about with wood. I am sure there are woodworkers out there that have never ventured into a certain avenues of woodworking. The first time I ever had to make a octagon shape was for a planter around a tree for the wife was close to 8 years ago. and I started working with wood seriously almost 30 years ago. You picked a challenging project for a first one and it does look good. So be proud that you are completing it and not turning it into firewood.
You will know what to pay extra attention to next time. Do lots of dry fitting LOL.

John

__________________
Pencils always appear just after you scratch the mark with a nail.

drcollins804

If it was easy nobody would pay for someone else to build their furniture. That said, you have gained invaluable experience that will see you through many future projects. I have come to double check all my measurements, angles, and then verify the cuts and still will screw something up on some projects. Have thrown a scroll cut piece away after 3 hours of work becuse it decided to break on the last cut. But it teaches us, and we seldom ever make the exact same mistake twice. Welcome to woodworking.
David

Eugene In NC

Jdurg,
Hang in there. Octagons are difficult the first time you work with them. Make shure all 8 of the pieces you use to make the octagon are the same length. I use a metal rule to measure a stop block on my miter station. Cut a few scrap pieces and check the angles with a protractor. When the angles are correct and you feel good about the setup cut all 8 pieces using a miter saw and stop block. Dry fit the pieces on a flat work/assembly table. You should be able to dry fit the whole top before you glue it. I build a quick jig or template to use for the assembly. That makes the glue up go a lot better. After the glue has cured for a day I clean it up with sanding blocks and profiles. I have not seen your project so I can only guess that I would probably use a template and router to cut holes for the chip wells in to the top of the table. I would then attach the chip wells to the bottom of the table. After you attach the wells to the bottom of the table you could take a router with a trim bit that has a bearing on the bottom and trim the table top flush with the inside of the wells. This method would require you to use a sharp chisel to clean up the corners.

Hope this helps.
Eugene

Roy Harding

If a project turned out perfectly, you'd never learn a damned thing.

You learn from your mistakes - and once you take measures to correct the mistakes you've already made, you'll make different ones - and you'll learn from those.

You tackled a project very much more difficult than it seemed at first. Making 16 perfect 22.5 mitres is no joke - although it seems like it should be easy. You seem to have recovered fairly well - remember that once you're done, only YOU will see the errors, others will see only the beautiful parts.

Best of luck to you.

jeffreythree

And you stuck it out and finished it, no matter what you thought of the finished product. I buy a lot of tools and supplies from people that gave up before finishing a single project. In fact, one of them started a poker table like you started with and gave up after laying it out on plywood and cutting most of the boards. I see some of my early projects at my relatives homes and think they look horrible and all of the problems stick out, but they are just thrilled to have something made by me no matter what it is. It is called "character".

__________________
Some people collect tools, I collect wood Now as complete trees, too!
http://texaswoodlot.blogspot.com
http://jtcwoodcrafts.etsy.com

raskgle

One of the best thing about woodwork is that the people give good advice. Keep trying and lissen to smart people.

smitty1967

Jdurg: don't become discouraged. It sounds like you have the basis for enjoying the hobby. And, that you've learned the hard way how to make yourself better the next time.

A poker table is on my wish list, except that mine aims to be a kidney-shaped affair for the Texas-Hold'em types. I don't understand the first thing about the game, specifically why you'd have to play it at a differently shaped table. But I'm told from some Texas-Holding friends of mine that a number of people would pay on the order of $3K- and up for a good one, so we'll see....

Remember, our great hobby is called Woodworking, not Woodeasy or Woodsimple. Keep at it...

regards,
smitty

Jdurg

Thanks everyone. I am definitely NOT discouraged. I look at this as a GREAT lesson, and even though it's not going to come out as perfect as I wanted it to, it will still be a great job for my first project. I've already had my friends look at it and say "Wow. That's a great looking table." So the mistakes I've made have been put into my memory bank and won't happen again. The learning is the best part of this mistake. :-)

dbhost

Uh, did you say Uranium?

Holy Al Quieda Batman!

Dude, stick to wood working as a hobby, far less likely to have the feds kick your door in over that...

__________________
-- Trying to follow the example of the master...

red

A lot of woodworking is learned through trial and error. NEVER say you can’t do it, try it! Red

__________________

Tony B

is that lacking experience, they are still applying logic.
Woodworking requires a certain amount of error built into everything. In a machine shop environment, there is such great precision that measurements and calculations actually work. Not always so in woodworking. In woodworking many things have to be designed with the error in mind and the solution to correcting the error. An example would be an octagon shape built of 8 separate pieces. Not just for tables but also in segmented bowls for woodturners. For wood turners the solution is much easier for many reasons. Just measure and cut as accurate as you can and adjust the last piece to fit. Not always easy for larger pieces as in a table. In a table I would measure and cut all my pieces as accurate as I could. Then I would glue up the 2 'semi-circles' separately. Then I would "flatten" and true up the inside edges and then glue up these 2 sections to complete the octagon.
I hope that made sense, I'm having a hard time putting it into words.
I'm sure there are other ways to do this. Maybe someone else could chime in. What I'm getting at is an exact 22 1/2* angle is generally going to be a little bit off with normal woodworking tools.

Also note that most, but not all, woodworking tools are not nearly as accurate as machinist tools. If there is a place near you where you can pick up machinist tools get a good engineers square.

Tony B

Jdurg

Okay, sorry for the poor picture quality, but below is an image I took with my cell phone. (Didn't feel like getting my camera out this late at night). I used my dremel tool and carefully ground away the corners where it didn't line up properly. You know what? It turned out pretty good. I'll need to take my random orbital sander and sand it smooth to get rid of any remnant rough spots, but I think this is going to turn out "okay". I still need to get some sharp, fine point wire clippers to cut off the bits of the finishing nails that stuck out of the wood, but once that's done I can grind out the little bits that stick out and use carefuly wood puttying to cover it up.

Attached Thumbnails

 

Gerry KIERNAN

Doesn't look half bad for a first effort. Sometimes the best lessons in life are the ones you learn yourself, the hard way. They stay with you much longer than anything anybody tells you.
Keep at it. You'll do just fine.

Gerry

Jdurg

Haha. It's another hobby of mine. I'm a chemist at heart and have always loved chemistry. While you can build furniture and artwork with wood, you can build EVERYTHING in existence with the elements. So I have a collection of the elements on the periodic table in their purest forms. Uranium and Thorium happen to be two of those elements that I have. Part of my interest in woodworking was from thinking about creating a nice built in cabinet to house them all.

Daveb

Every seat at your table will be "HOT" ...

Jdurg

This afternoon I went to Home Depot and got a couple of 6-foot lengths of 1x6 oak board. This will give me plenty of extra to not have to be afraid of making a mistake. If a corner piece doesn't come out right, I'll just re-cut it. What I did notice is that because the inside playing surface corners don't fully line up with the outside corners, the pieces I'm cutting to house the cup-holders are going to look fairly funky. Oh well. There is NOTHING I can do to correct that aside from removing all of the trim work and the chip wells and starting over from scratch. So this will look fairly goofy, but it will be a constant reminder of my mistakes and will eventually coerce me into building a new top of the table and getting that one perfect. (I can devise a way to build the chip wells/trim in pairs of two so that I can build the playing surface, have all of the chip wells come out perfectly level and true, then bolt them up underneath one at a time and attach the corner pieces to cover the exposed corners. I could also build the inner trim into this work, and as long as my playing surface is cut to the exact dimensions and not off by a few inches on some sides, everything will go together smoothly. Hmmmm. I may wind up doing that next spring).

Jdurg

The corner pieces have been cut and fitted, and they fit incredibly tightly. The tiny little gaps that appear are not large enough to warrant any type of putty of filling.

I've also started cutting the holes for the cup holders. I've discovered that as long as I keep the drill completely level and drill slowly, it cuts through the oak with no problem. Even with my cordless drill. It's still pretty slow going, but it will only take me a few hours to get it done. Again, it's not all perfect since getting the corners the right angle for the interior part of it is not easy to do. This is a flaw in the construction that I'll just have to live with.

I've saved the most difficult cuts for last. This is for the side walls of the corner sections. None of them are straight cuts on all four sides. Only the bottom part is a straight cut. I'll be able to measure the vertical height which I can figure out the basics from, but trying to come up with how to measure all four sides accurately is going to be a pain in the ass. The bevel angles I'll need for the sides that meet up with the interior and exterior trim isn't a problem since they won't be seen, but the other sides will be a pain.

To join everything up, I'm going to cut some small blocks and nail them to the bottom and top of the side pieces. I'll then glue and nail them to the bottom of the chip wells, thus securing them in place. If I cut everything right, I'll then be able to rest the top piece on top of these side pieces and glue them in place while putting a weight on top. Let it dry for 24 hours and it will be nice and secure.

After that, I'll go and get some quarter round for the very bottom of the outside trim and glue/nail it on. Then comes a LOT of sanding and finally the finishing. I figure this will get done in about three weeks. (Get the side pieces measured, somehow, and cut them on Sunday. Throughout the week, apply the glue/nails and secure them. Next weekend, get the quarter round installed and install the top corner pieces. Then, sand like there's no tomorrow, apply the stain, then apply many coats of the polyacrylic finish).

Thanks for all the support guys. I needed it. Another nice benefit is that even though the table is not going to look like I want it to, there is currently no way to replace the felt on the playing surface. So when that gets damaged, I'll be forced to take the whole table top off and that gives me a reason to start over and do it properly.

John in Tennessee

My 1st project was my 4x8 workbench. To the eye it's junk BUT it does what it's supposed to do. Stands I made for my miter saw then disk/belt sander got a little neater. I think my out feed/laundry table for my tablesaw will be a bit better. Start slow and let nature take it's own course.