Chinese Checker Boards made of Cherry & finished just with Wax

[Frank Pellow]

(Part 1 of 7)

Background Note 1:

Many of you know that, for the last few months, I have been doing very little woodworking.  Rather, I (along with a few former Hearst Public School students) have been involved in story gathering, story writing, story editing, photo gathering, photo editing, and layout for a book and DVD to be launched at the first ever reunion of Hearst Public School this summer.  I am happy to say that (as of two days ago) the book has now been printed and the DVD has been manufactured.

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We have had 600 copies of the book printed.  I fully expect to sell out in no less time than 6 months and to require a second printing.  Any proceeds for the sale of the book and DVD will be donated to the school (now renamed in honour of Clayton Brown, the longserving principal of Hearst Public School).  We will also be holding a silent auction at the reunion in order to raise money.  Three of the items being auctioned are these pens that we commissioned from Mack Cameron:

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Mack made these from poplar that he "rescued" from the woodpile on Pellow?s Island north of Hearst when he visited last September.

I have volunteered to make two Chinese Checker boards for the auction, and late last week I finally found the time to get started on them,

Background Note 2:

While working with Dan Clermont at the Ultimate Tools booth at the Toronto Woodworking Show last February, I was introduced to a new way (to me) of finishing wood.  Dan purchased a piece of Bubinga and invited folks to sand it up the 4000 grit using a Festool Rotex sander.  The results astounded me.  I had real trouble believing that the wood had no finish at all on it ?rather it had been polished to a sheen via the sanding process.  

I decided to finish the Chinese Checker boards this way.

 

[Frank Pellow]

(part 2 of 7)

Making the Boards:

The raw input was the roughsawn cherry and walnut boards shown below:

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The first step was to run each of the boards through a jointer in order to get one flat edge and one flat side with a square corner between them:

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The boards were next run through a planer in order to obtain uniform thickness:

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Then, each board was sawn to an even width:

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The next step was the cut up the cherry boards to approximately their final length then to glue and clamp them together:

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[Frank Pellow]

(part 3 of 7)

The assembled cherry panels were cut to their final width using an Incra sled on my table saw:

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Next, it was time to work on the walnut plank.  Pieces of walnut are going to be attached to each of the long sides of the cherry panel.  The first step is to cut a section of the walnut plank slightly longer than the cedar panel:

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This section was then cut into four equal width strips.  The strips were clamped together and sanded with my Festool Rotex in aggressive mode with 50 grit paper in order to make them of uniform thickness:

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Next, two walnut strips were glued and clamped to each of the cherry panels:

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[Frank Pellow]

(part 4 of 7)

Dowels to match the colour of the cherry but to contrast with the walnut are now inserted into each of the cherry boards through each of the walnut side pieces then sawn off flush with the walnut:

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The ends were trimmed off on the table saw, then all the top edges were rounded over on the router table:

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[Frank Pellow]

(part 5 of 7)

I encountered a problem when routing the end of one of the boards:

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I had goofed when gluing up the panels and had placed a somewhat "punky" and, therefore, chipable, streak extending to a portion of the side of one of the cherry boards at the outside edge:
 
I trimmed the split end again then re-rounded it very carefully ?this time there was no crack but some of the wood at the edge was still very porous and likely to be damaged.  The punky wood was  with of few drops penetrating and quick drying Hot Stuff glue:

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This worked very well and the wood hardened.  The wood with the glue was quite a bit darker, but there are many shades and patterns in the wood and, after the wood has been polished and waxed, I was confident that it would blend in well.

Three grooves to hold marbles were routed into each of the boards using a "core box bit" and these grooves were tested for length with the actual marbles that wiil be used when playing Chinese Checkers:

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Notice how blocks of wood have been clamped to the fence on the router table.  These serve as start and stop blocks when routing the grooves.

Next a Plexiglas template was clamped to in the appropriate position on the board and a special drill bit was inserted into my electric drill.

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I purchased the template and the drill bit at Rockler a few years ago and this is about the 6th time that they have been used.

 

[Frank Pellow]

(part 6 of 7)

After drill all the holes and carefully removing the template, small hills dust and chips made this pattern on the board:

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Next came the most important part of the job.  Both boards were sanded with a progression of sandpapers and polishing pads using a Festool Rotex 150 sander.

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The list below outlines the papers used and the approximate duration of use for each per board:

• Rubin 50 -30 seconds
• Rubin 80 -2 minutes
• Rubin 120 -4 minutes
• Rubin 150 -4 minutes
• Brilliant 180 -6 minutes
• Brilliant 220 -8 minutes
• Brilliant 400 -4 minutes
• Platin 500 -4 minutes
• Platin 1000 -4 minutes
• Platin 2000 -2 minutes
• Platin 4000 -2 minutes

The grooves and holes had to be sanded by hand:

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Starting with the Platin steps, the effects were dramatic as the the wood took on an ever increasing sheen.  The picture below contrasts a polished board with an unsanded and unpolished  one.

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[Frank Pellow]

(part 7 of 7)

The final step was to apply paste wax, let it dry then buff it for about 15 minutes using the Rotex sander in polishing mode and equipped with a sheepskin pad.

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Some of the leftover cherry wood was used to make a marble holding compartment on the underside of the board:

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Also, a set of non-skid feet were installed and I branded the boards on the underside with my name and year of construction.

Playing a game:

Here a test game is being played on one the new boards:

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By the way, I lost this particular game to my 7 year old grandson Ethan.

To come:

All that remains is to see how well the boards fare at the auction.

 

[nclemmons]

Excellent step-by-step Frank.  I'm sure the boards will bring a nice sum for the school.

Nice to see you back in the shop and on the forum.

neil

 

[Brice Burrell]

Excellent step-by-step Frank.  I'm sure the boards will bring a nice sum for the school.

Nice to see you back in the shop and on the forum.

neil

What Neil said! While I really enjoy some of the more sophisticated and complex projects on this forum your projects are always the most fun. Great job Frank.

 

[Frank Pellow]

Excellent step-by-step Frank.  I'm sure the boards will bring a nice sum for the school.

Nice to see you back in the shop and on the forum.

neil

What Neil said! While I really enjoy some of the more sophisticated and complex projects on this forum your projects are always the most fun. Great job Frank.

Thanks Brice,  I think that this project was fun too  ;D  Why would a retired guy want to work on a voluntary project that was not fun?

 

[ForumMFG]

Frank,

I'm really fascinated with how you finished these boards.  I like the whole sanding, wax, and polishing technique.  This is something I would like to get into.  Can you provide any information and recourses for someone like me who is new to the wax and polishing technique?  I would like to know about the abrasives, what kinda to use, how long to sand, how to determine how long to sand, what kinda of wax to use, how much?  The polishing process.  What kinda of pads to use, in order, stuff like that.  I am really interested in learning this, so maybe you can provide some information on how to start from scratch.

I would very much appreciate it.

 

[Neill]

Frank,

Great job.  I haven't even thought about Chinese checkers in years.  Thanks for the great pics and the detail you provided on the abrasives you used and how much time you spent with each grit.  I always thought you were more of a big project guy.  I guess you proved your versatility.

Not to knit pick but rather to show you that I was paying attention, you mention early in your postings that you used up to 4000 grit Platin but in your list of abrasives you showed the finest grit at 3000.  I believe this was a typo since I don't believe there is 3000, just 2000 then 4000.

Whatever you used makes no never mind.  The checker boards you made are real jewels.  When do you start on making wooden marbles? 

Neill

 

[Frank Pellow]

Thanks Neil.  By the way, I work on lots and lots of little projects -I just don't talk about them very much unless there is some aspect of them that I think would be of interest.  Yes, the 3000 is a typo -I will go back and change it to 4000.

Good question about the marbles, but I think the answer is never.

 

[Frank Pellow]

Frank,

I'm really fascinated with how you finished these boards.  I like the whole sanding, wax, and polishing technique.  This is something I would like to get into.  Can you provide any information and recourses for someone like me who is new to the wax and polishing technique?  I would like to know about the abrasives, what kinda to use, how long to sand, how to determine how long to sand, what kinda of wax to use, how much?  The polishing process.  What kinda of pads to use, in order, stuff like that.  I am really interested in learning this, so maybe you can provide some information on how to start from scratch.

I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks.

I am somewaht at a loss to know what more information to provide.  Most of what you ask about is already covered in the thread.  I can tell you that I used this wax:  http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=20091&cat=1,190,42950
I applied only a thin layer, let it dry for about an hour then buffed it for about 5 minutes with the sheepskin pad.  Then, after a day, I applied and polished a second coat of wax.

 

[tbellemare]

While working with Dan Clermont at the Ultimate Tools booth at the Toronto Woodworking Show last February, I was introduced to a new way (to me) of finishing wood.  Dan purchased a piece of Bubinga and invited folks to sand it up the 4000 grit using a Festool Rotex sander.  The results astounded me.  I had real trouble believing that the wood had no finish at all on it ?rather it had been polished to a sheen via the sanding process.

This is something that I think some people find hard to believe. The Rotex really can take wood from rough-sawn to polished in a few minutes. What Dan did is a classic Rotex demo and it is always impressive.

I think Dave may be looking for the detail in the progression of sanding and polishing. Here's how I would do it with the grits you used if I had a rough work piece:

Full Speed
Rubin 50 - gear driven mode to smooth out rough finish
Rubin 50 - random orbit mode
Rubin 80 - gear driven mode to smooth out rough finish
Rubin 80 - random orbit mode
Rubin 120 - random orbit mode
Rubin 150 - random orbit mode
Brilliant 180 - random orbit mode
Brilliant 220 - random orbit mode
Brilliant 400 - random orbit mode
Platin 500 - random orbit mode
Slow Speed
Platin 1000 - gear driven mode
Platin 2000 - gear driven mode
Platin 4000 - gear driven mode

Is that how you did it, Frank?

Tom

 

[ForumMFG]

Frank,

The polish you put on these boards, is this a type of polish that will have to be buffed every couple years?

 

[Frank Pellow]

Tom, that is very close to what I did.  The difference is that I did not use gear-driven mode with the 50 grit paper.

I stopped each stepo when it appeared to me that the wood was not getting any smooter.

ForumMFG, I have never used just wax on a surface before so I am not sure what to expect.  My guess is that the boards should be buffed every now and then and perhaps, even rewaxed some time.  

 

[tbellemare]

It looks like you were significantly smoother to begin with than rough-sawn. When I have a real rough surface, I can "knock the top off" very quickly using the gear driven mode and 25 or 50. If I'm using the gear-driven mode, before I move up a grit, I switch over to RO and it takes any gouging out pretty well. The combo of the two modes while still rough seems to take less time overall. After 80, I don't consider it rough anymore.

Beautiful work as usual, Frank.

Tom

 

[Neill]

After 80, I don't consider it rough anymore.

Tom

Tom,

It gets pretty rough after 60, believe me. 

Neill

 

[Frank Pellow]

After 80, I don't consider it rough anymore.

Tom

Good one Tom!  ;D

Tom,

It gets pretty rough after 60, believe me.   

Neill