Every time we got together to play poker we were reminded exactly what bad shape our current table was in. It was too small, wobbled and was in need of some general repair. So with all that in mind I decided that it was time to get a new one, or in this case make a new one.
I looked at a bunch of tables and nothing suited me so I decided hey, I bet I can make a table. So I started drawing out some sketches and came up with something I liked. I thought that I would make a 7 sided table because in most poker games the deck cannot support 8 people. I also figured that if it only had 7 sides that would increase the amount of space that each player had (this is not the case, btw). My Grandpa laid out a template for a 7 sided table and it was very clear that you actually lost room on a 7 sided table, so back to the design table.
After coming up with a relatively basic table, it looked plain. So back to the drawing boards. While playing poker I like to sip on my Jack and Cokes so I thought I would add a neat logo to my table. If you are going to have a Jack Daniel's label you have to have black felt so that was one choice that was made for me. I bought some felt and tried my darnest to come up with a logo. I finally came up with a way to get the logo to the table and made myself a stencil.
This turned out ok but it wasn't perfect! So I went looking around and once again my Grandpa helped out by mentioning getting it silk screened. So I went to a local company and they told me $100 but that seemed pretty steep to me. I checked around and another local company said that they would have to get permission from JD in order to put the logo on. Three days later they told me that they had permission and told me to bring down the felt.
I brought it into the shop and she told me that it would be between $25 and $45. She took some very basic instructions and told me that she had no clue when it would be done. I figured I was going to get hosed but left it anyway. 4 days later she called me and told me it was done. I went down to see exactly how bad it turned out and how much they wanted for it.
Wow, is all I can say! They made a perfect copy. So I figured I would get the whole, "It was harder than we expected, so it's really going to cost..." but was pleasantly surprised. I was charged a $25 plus tax. The low ball figure she quoted me!
Here we go, onto the table :)
This is what it all started with, 1x12x120 Cherry wood!
This is the logo that I paid a whooping $25 for :)
I decided to add a little flavor and add some detailing to the edging.
Working on the table. At this point I am putting in the felt in the chip area.
Here is where I went a little crazy. One thing that always bothered me. We have beer drinkers at our games and as most beer drinkers will tell you, bottled beer is the best! Although the thing with a bottled beer is that when you deal the bottle is in the way. Most of our players just dealt with this by putting the beer in their laps while dealing. I thought to myself, "hmm... what can we do to fix this?" So I decided to add some "pool pockets" to the table. Basically the beer bottle sits down in the pockets so just the neck sticks up, about the same height that a can would sit above the table. I didn't want all the can users to feel left out so I have two pockets one for bottles and one for cans. (I submitted a design patent on this portion of the table)
"Pool Pockets" early on
Top view of the table
This is the pocket at this point I just have to insert the cork in the the "Can Pockets"
Here is the Table, missing the cork in the "Can Pockets"
