Tak Game Board #3 - Woodworking

 

To replace my original tak board (https://theambit.blogspot.com/2022/05/tak-game-board-woodworking.html) I decided to up my game a bit and instead of just a board, I wanted one that held all the pieces and also allowed a 6x6 and 5x5 grid size game.

The base is 1/4" plywood with walls made of walnut, as are the dividers. I glued some green felt inside the trays. I drilled the divots out by clamping each wall (before glue up) to a sacrificial piece.  

Inside, I made the pieces out of walnut and maple. They're broken up into 3 trays each, which allows the correct amount of pieces to be taken whether playing 6x6 or 5x5 sized games.

To make the capstone pieces, I used the same walnut and maple wood, and made little cutting boards essentially, in two glue ups, so I ended up with a checkboard pattern. The 2nd wood used on each capstone is a reddish wood I had. I'm not sure what it is, it was given to me. Perhaps it's paduk? I then used a sander to round these and make them look somewhat like pawns. 

For the game board, I'm really not sure what the light coloured wood is, as it was also given to me. When I was cutting it, it was quite light and I thought it was maple but not sure after finishing. Anyway, putting it together was similar to a cutting board. I backed it with plywood for rigidity and then mitred a walnut trim followed by another layer of the reddish wood (paduk?) I used to make the capstones and on the mitred splines on the box. Then at each intersection of wood, I drilled a hole, squared the edges with a chisel and glued in a square of the red wood to match. Sand a bunch and then I used tried and true linseed oil. A few coats of that on all of the pieces as well and it's done! Much better than my first box.