Hello, everyone--figured it was time to get back into updating the blog regularly--apologies for the overlong delay.
Any of you that have read the older posts know that I like to write not only about the games we make, but the stages and processes we use to make them. This entry focuses mainly on a small batch of Seega games we've nearly completed, but the process itself applies (mostly) to how we assemble our tafl boards as well. There are basically three components to these game boards as we makes them: the base, the game squares, and the frame. The base we simply cut to size from a sheet of plywood (typically luaun). The squares themselves, since they are the face of the game board, we cut from a nicer quality oak plywood. To cut the squares, I cut thin strips of the plywood on my table saw. Then, I stack them 4 deep and cut them using a miter saw.
This picture shows one of my oak plywood strips on the miter saw with the jig i use for Seega and tafl board squares.
I usually just dedicate an hour or two a week to cut a lot of squares, and bag them in bags of 40.
Once I have the bases and the squares cut, we just carefully the glue the sqaures on. I usually have a little trim-work to do on the sides of the boards, but then I cut the board frames. For the Seega games, I cut simple unstained L-shape molding to size and then stain them. Once the stain dries, we glue the frame to the board.
Here are four of the Seega boards, two have been glued and dried, two are still clamped and drying.
Once the glue dries, we stain the boards and the frames to bring out the texture. This batch we just stained a few hours ago with a dark walnut stain. I tried to get the light so you can see the wet stain. We put the first coat on for half an hour, the second coat for 15 minutes. After that, they get wiped down to dry for at least 8 hours. After that, they're pretty much finished.
