# Wahoo Marble Boards



## EnRouteWoodcrafts (Oct 23, 2012)

Ive been making these marble boards to sell and started with just fire department related boards since we play it at the fire station but have started to explore other designs like football teams. Any comments or ideas of where I should take it next?
Thanks


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## EnRouteWoodcrafts (Oct 23, 2012)

*more boards*

a Dallas Fire Dept board


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## EnRouteWoodcrafts (Oct 23, 2012)

*another*

Is there a reason why I can only upload one pic at a time?


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## EnRouteWoodcrafts (Oct 23, 2012)

*one more*

sorry for all the new replys


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## papawd (Jan 5, 2011)

I have made about 20 of these they were Christmas presents a few years ago for my 3 kids and since I get a order for one about every month or so, I also build small boxes to match each board to store marbles and dice... Found a place on the internet that sell nice colored diceand that sets them off also found candle tacks which are built like roofing nails with decorations on them these I put on the corners in a pre determined space and if lucky will find cabinet knobs to match from time to time these will fit on the storage box lids.... I hope this helps


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## EnRouteWoodcrafts (Oct 23, 2012)

That's awesome I will definitely look into that. Thanks for the info, the box idea is great.


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## gwizz (Mar 3, 2012)

*board games with marbles*

Hi Charlie …………
Our family and friends got in to playing "Abalone" a few years ago ( hard to find now but still available at game stores and on the internet ) it is an addictive fun game you and your coworkers might enjoy. It’s not too common now but still out there. 

We had so much fun with it I wanted a bigger version so found that “Woodcraft” carries wooden balls with no flat spots which when stained up two different colours & finished with urethane make great substitutes for marbles. 

Scaled the board up in proportion to the difference in size of the wooden balls to marbles and made up a board. Makes a great table game now.

You may find Abalone a good addition to the game boards you make or make a scaled up version of the games you make already but with Woodcraft's wooden balls.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Excellent boards Richard, how about a photo-shoot so that we can attempt to make a facsimile.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

gwizz said:


> I wanted a bigger version so found that “Woodcraft” carries wooden balls with no flat spots which when stained up two different colours & finished with urethane make great substitutes for marbles.


Golf balls, cheaper than dirt on evilBay, if you find the right seller. But watch the shipping cost there, a lot of the sellers want to make their profit from the chipping cost.


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## gwizz (Mar 3, 2012)

Hi Harry ...........

I’m happy to put up some pics and specs, but as I’m checking the forum on a coffee break ( having a busy week going and some of the kids & grand kids, coming into town for a visit this weekend ) I won’t be able to put up some shots and proportional measurements until early next week.


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## darisrob (Oct 24, 2012)

That's a really cool ideal. I'm going to have to look into doing something like that.


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## gwizz (Mar 3, 2012)

*Abalone board*

OK Harry ......
I didn't expect to get the time until next week but here is what I have :

The way I made it - I can think of many variations so what I'm describing is what I used .

Material
Board - 7/8” thick Maple panel 20” * 16” ( mine from 3 pcs of 1” rough maple scrap – odd widths – edge to edge glued then planed to max thickness when flat ) trimmed to Hexagon after holes drilled and slots routed. 

Catch rim – 11/16” * 1 ½” Oak

Board to rim connectors ½” Oak dowels

Balls – 1 ½” wood from woodcraft 28 in total – 14 stained black and 14 left natural both hard finished ( actually used a clear hardwood flooring finish ) 

In laying out the holes it’s best to simply establish the distance between the angled center lines ( everything is based on the angles in a hexagon ) which are 1 9/16” apart and cross each other establishing the centre points for drilling 1 1/16” holes for the 1 ½” wooden balls.

You will wind up with approx. 22/32” ( a big 11/16” or a small ¾” is all I deal with ) of material between the holes and want to route a ½” wide channel slot 3/16” deep between the holes ( used a Forstner bit to drill the holes first and then a round bottoming router bit ( ? – whatever the proper name for it ) with a strait guide clamped over the wood to cut the slots 

On the bottom where nobody even sees I used a ¼” round over bit with bearing guide in the holes to de burr and dress them up.

I drilled the sides for the doweling through a piece of ¾ scape which accomplished two things, a) produced a hole template for drilling the holes in the Oak catch rails which I wanted standing off ¾” and b) allowed me to draw the appropriate cutting line from the game board corner which I then carried on to the Oak catch rails from the scrap spacer. 

After drilling and putting dowels in ( made sure it was a tight fit ) I did not glue the dowels but did butt glue the Oak rails end to end. Over time the expansion and contraction broke the two end joints which were on the cross grain edges, which I was expecting and they sit with a 1/16” or so gap which is no problem. 

You could leave a 1/16” to 1/8” gap between all the rail pieces and glue the doweling into the board and rails and it would work the same. As it is I have 3 pieces on each side of the Hexagon that remain glued end to end and the geometry the dowels going into the maple on three side keeps both free floating side catch rails rock solid.

I made this game to be a family entertainment after meals etc. and as my wife wanted a plant stand and trellis for some of her favorite weeds I made the game as a part of a larger project that I had to build a steamer for to bend the trellis material. In the end it all turned out good and 3 years later the little bit of green in these pictures is solid green all around that side of the dining room.

If anyone else uses Delta CAD they can certainly message me and I can email the drawing files as the ones I’ve posted are just jpg exports but show the pattern.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Thank you for that Richard. I've printed it out and will add it to my "things to make" file but to be honest, I'm not sure that I have the skills or patience, time will tell!


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## gwizz (Mar 3, 2012)

Your Welcome Harry any time. I don't know about skill though as I don't have a bunch of that compared to what I see others do, I just follow the old motto " When you don't know what your doing, do it neatly !".


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## Fishinbo (Jun 11, 2012)

Your works are genius! Keep them coming.


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