CribbageBoard
Contents |
Background
Growing up, I learned to play cribbage on some cribbage boards that my grandfather made. It was common for him to make boards and give them as gifts. We still have a couple floating around. Sadly, he died when I was five, so I didn't get a chance to learn any wood working from him. Below are my own attempts at making cribbage boards / tables using some of the same tools with some modern technology to help me out.
Laura's cribbage board
Story
This cribbage board was a christmas gift for my wife, Laura, christmas 2011. It stayed in a partially completed state for over a year as I didn't have the tools required to finish it (also, general laziness). After joining Bloominglabs, I gained the tools and the set aside time to finish the project and make my wife very happy.
Materials
It is made of Brazilian cherry (jatoba) given to me from co-worker from the remains of a flooring project.
The gems are from michaels.
The pegs are from ebay.
Build
I made the layout in microsoft Word (forgive me, I didn't know better at the time) using punctuation bullets in a table layout. I printed the layout, taped it to the boards, and drilled the holes with an 1/8" brad point drill bit. I drilled and cut out the peg / card holes in two more pieces of jatoba and glued them to the bottom of the peg boards. The ends are held closed using magnets. I will probably properly glue them in someday. There is enough room inside for the pegs and a deck of cards.
Cherri cribbage board
Story
Laura requested that I make a cribbage table for her friend Augusta, who learned cribbage from us and loved it. Being that I was a member of Bloominglabs and had acquired a few more skills since the first board, I decided on a different build this time. I thought it would be easier if I just made it as one board with holes drilled in the side, like my grandpa made, but one thing always bothered me about that style: you had to rely on friction to hold the cards in. My solution was to build in a slot that would hold the pegs and cards in place while stored.
Materials
Wood: from my wood burning stock. I picked up the piece and thought "I can get a cribbage board out of that".
pegs: ebay (same vendor as Laura's board).
Build
I took the huge chunk of wood and started cutting off pieces on the table saw at the space. A non-member that came to visit now and again offered for me to come out and use his wood working tools as they were better than what the space had and I gladly accepted. This allowed the board to be truly square and use a router to carve out the slot. For the holder, we got it close to the size of the slot and then I started slowly sanding it down till it fit perfectly. I also drilled a couple small holes in the board and the slot for magnets to hold the slot in place. For the holes, I used a 3/4" Forstner bit for clean sides and flat bottoms.
For the peg holes, I decided to use Bloominglabs newest toy, the laser cutter. I first tried to completely cut out the holes using the laser, but that just ended in fire in the test subject. My next idea was to use it to mark the holes and then drill them, which proved much better. Knowing what I know now, I could have done this portion much better and faster (vector cutting a small mark instead of rastering), but it still worked.
Laura's cribbage table
Story
The cribbage board is nice and all, but having a cribbage table is obviously a step up. Another bonus for Laura is she's able to keep track of her own score instead of me having to do both. My grandpa had made one that my mom still has, but there's no room to properly play on the board without getting in the way of the pegs. When this table came into my possession, I knew exactly what I would use it for. This was my wedding anniversary gift to Laura for 2015. We played over 250 games on it that year. One improvement I would make to the table is to add a small drawer on one side to hold the pegs and cards.
Materials
Table: as a payment from a friend I helped move. He didn't have the space for it.
Pegs: chrome rods from old printers
Build
From the table design, I knew that one side would be for the pegs and the other for playing cards. I measured the peg area and discovered that a 1/2" hole separation worked perfectly. I penciled in my marks and used the contraption shown below with varying success. Unfortunately, the drill press couldn't reach the middle holes, so I ended up drilling them by hand anyway.
To decide what size holes I needed, I looked through the chrome rods we had in the space. I found several 6mm rods, for which 15/64" drill bits work well. After cutting the pegs on the band saw, I put them in the lathe to clean and knurl the ends.
