Part 1 is here
I wasn't very happy with the result of the table yesterday (see part 1) - it was OK, but it wasn't what I had in my head. So as I had a day off work booked I decided to try and go about fixing some of the issues.
First of all the top. I had used pine strips that were about 6cm wide, which wasn't enough to hide the lights I wanted to eventually have under them, plus the nails I used weren't even, and some of them didn't like up properly!
So, I went back to B&Q and found some strips that were twice the width, and matched the depth of the main sections. This should make it look like a nice chunky bit of wood from a distance.
Second I wasn't happy with the stability. The arms felt a little fragile, so I found some metal L brackets, in brown, and decided to add these to each corner.
And finally, the colour. Although I had waxed it, it had come up very very light, which I didn't like as it didn't match any of the rest of the furniture in the room - and looked quite cheap (which it is!).
So I found a few videos on YouTube about varnishing, and grabbed some Ronseal furniture varnish with stainer.
Below you can see the new wider strips, plus the bracket, and the first coat of varnish.
It instantly looked better! But the tin said to do 3 coats, so I persisted.
For anyone trying to copy this, before the stage above I had to cut them to size, wood glue and nail them in place (making sure to seat all the nails firmly down so you couldn't feel them if you run your hand over it), and then spent some time sanding them down with 2 different types of sanding paper - to remove all the roughness, and make sure there were no splinters.
After the coat above I then gave it a few more coats
Above you can see the thin top panels better, and the bracket. The varnish dried super quickly, 20 minutes between coats, then an hour to dry completely! Recommended!
I then tested it on the table without the cloth.
As you can see it got much darker, and really started to compliment the brass hooks and the brown brackets.
Time to test it out!
The process is ...
Roll out the felt, with the non slip rubber underneath it (to protect the table and to give it a nice padded feel when playing)
Make sure it is nice and flat and smooth
Then add the first section, making sure to pull it back as you push it down, so it pulls the felt tight as it drops, which makes the cloth flat, and makes the section snug as it "seats" itself.
Then put the second section down, repeating the pull of the felt from above, but so its tight against the other half.
Then push them together, whilst keeping the cloth tight.
Lock the two together with the hooks.
This keeps them tight against the table and stops it moving (it feels very secure and doesn't move at all once its locked down).
I also found some little tags to go over the screws to hide them, which really helps make it look a but posh!
And finally, you have a gaming table!
I'm so happy with the end result! Just the lights to go (they arrived today, but didn't work, so I've another set on the way).
Looks great, in my humble opinion, much better than I imagined it would.
And when you want to pack up at the end of the night, it takes just a minute to unhook, lift off, roll up and pop away in the cupboard!
The table put away for the night!
Next, the lights!
Below, testing it out with Eldritch Horror!
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