Right after I became a member, a friend of mine suggested holding a poker night. We haven't played poker before, but I felt like the ambience is very important for a good experience. We needed real chips, whiskey and a poker table. Normal dining table would not do. I had two weeks to learn about wood working and produce a poker playing table.

To cut down on the work, I decided to go for a table topper instead of a full table. Table topper is a board that sits on top of another full table, providing a new surface. I also approached the project as a learning opportunity, allowing for some mistakes so that I could deliver the result in time.

The design itself is simple: A backing board, made from fiberboard or veneer is the base. On it, first a soft polyurethane mat is adhered with glue and staples. The PU layer provides a softer and bouncier feeling. Then speed cloth is stretched on top to provide the playing surface (This was the most expensive part, Eurokangas costs about 39€/meter). Lastly, a wooden rim is made around the board to provide stiffness and a lip that prevents the topper from sliding around on the table.

The base fiber board was very poor quality and soft, but it didn't matter as it was hidden and non-structural. Cut into shape 132×82 with a carpet knife, to match my 130×80 IKEA table.

Soft mat was glued and stapled on to provide a softer feeling. Later, the spray contact glue separated. Perhaps I used the wrong type of glue on this.

The rim was made from a single board, first cut into smaller strips. Then a U-shaped groove was routed into the middle to catch the edge of the base board. Edges were rounded on the router and joins were cut with a band saw. I then realized that the rounding should've been done after gluing together. Now there is rounding in the corner itself, which I tried to fill in with wood filler but the results were poor.

Because of the rim design, the fabrics had to be prepared before gluing, sanding and finishing. This was a big design mistake.

Next the speedcloth was stretched and stapled around the backside of the board. I should've paid more attention here. Once the table was ready, the fabric was still a little bit loose and not fully tight as you would wish. I covered the fabrics with paper and tape to protect them from sanding dust and wood dye + lacquer.

Then the rim was assembled around the base board and glued in place. The corners were given final sanding and wood dye was used to make it a little prettier. I also applied one coat of lacquer, but the long drying time meant I did not have time to do multiple coats like you are supposed to. In the end the wood remained rather raw, but worked well enough. Surprisingly none of the glue or dye leaked onto the fabric.

I finished the table one day before the game, and we had a great time. I lost 30€.

Biggest mistake I made was in the design of the rim. Instead of a U-groove that holds onto the board, I should have gone for a simpler L-shape. This way, attaching the wood and base board could have been deferred right to the end. It would have been much easier to handle the rim for sanding, finishing and routing.

 ___________
|           |
| Rim ______|
|    | ____________...
|    || Base board 
|    ||____________...
|    | ____________...
|____|| 
      | Table surface
      |
      :