Landchark

Given the rash of watermelon, banana and mango attacks, I feel it is my duty to share this self-defense video with the fine, upstanding readers of landchark. Most of you come here for advice on how to build casino tables, so chances are you may frequent casinos. If so, you’ll need to defend yourself and your winnings against cumquat-brandishing hooligans at some point in your life, so pay attention. If there’s anyone who knows how to defend himself against fresh fruit, it’s John Cleese.

Tags: , cumquat, fruit, hooligan, Self Defense // Add Comment »

You can build all the poker tables you want, but to make your basement a real man cave, there is just one thing that you need.

A bar.

Building a bar in your basement can be as simple or as complex as you want. I have gone with fairly simple. Basically building a freestanding counter top.

The plan is to attach it to the blackjack table on one end to create the “L”-shape. I had to add the “cut out” on one end of the bar to allow plenty of room to stand behind the blackjack table and deal without having to reach over the bar counter. It cuts out some countertop workspace, but I can live with it.

Here are the plans I drew up:

Dimensions:
42″ tall (not including padded rail)
3″ padded rail
6′ long
24″ deep counter
24″ deep bar top centered on edge of counter
12″ overhang on bar top for legroom underneath
36″ tall countertop

phase 1: build the base frame

add the countertop

added a shelf and the first layer of the bar top:

The bar top:

It is stained with a blue tinted stain, Island Waters I think is the official Minwax name of the tint.

Just to ensure that it is fitting right, I laid the bar top on the base. Also added a few more shelves, and set in the new mini fridge I got from Sears to see how it fit. It fits nice.

Since the top was on the bar, I thought I would push it together with the blackjack table and get an idea of how the whole thing fit together.

Next step was to take the entire thing apart. Fun, Fun. It was a good practice run for when I have to take the bartop off to carry the thing downstairs to the basement anyways. Got it all taken apart and painted the inside black. Then I reassembled and put the bar top back on.

I padded a 3 inch rail (pictured above) with 1″ green foam from joann fabrics and whisper vinyl. Again, that process is documented in my poker table building post, and if you need even more help, read the padded rail maker’s bible

After I got it all put together, i layed it on it’s side and upholstered the front identical to the blackjack table.

After the bar was all put together and upholstered, I made myself a Brandy Manhattan, straight up, hold the water, and toss the cherry. Tasted even better from behind my own bar.

The only thing left is a few strips of trim to be nailed on around the edge of the bar top. After that, it’s down to the basement.

[update: check out how the bar and blackjack table look now that they are moved down into the basement k2 lounge]

Tags: , bar, bar plans, basement bar, blackjack table, casino fun // 7 Comments »

If there is one casino table game that almost everyone knows how to play, it has to be blackjack. So obviously, I had to include a blackjack table in my home casino.

Plus, I have this awesome layout that I want to display.

I used the standard poker table building technique, documented fully here, as the basic construction method for the blackjack table playing surface. Pretty much the same process as building a round poker table, except it’s just a half a table.

Used 2 sheets of 3/4″ pine CDX ply to cut the half circles. The table itself is a circle on a 36″ diameter, so it ends up being 6′ wide. There are spots on the layout for 6 people, but I think the original table this layout was on was a bit bigger than a 36″ diameter circle, and when they cut the felt off the table, the cut it a tad tight to be able to make it that big again (plus my basement is going to be a bit cramped with all this stuff down there), so that’s why I went with the idea to shrink it down a bit. Plus there were a couple cigarette burns that got folded over and hidden in the process of upholstering.

The chip tray was created by cutting a rectangle into both layers of the table before I added the layout. I didn’t really want to spend the bling to get a custom sized locking metal chip rack so i ripped apart one of my cheap aluminum poker chip cases and pulled the “chip rack” out of it and just set it in the newly created rectangle on my table. Trimmed out the inside of the rectangle with 1.5″ trim (still to be painted and brad nailed in) and there you go. perfect chip tray on the cheap. To “fancy it up” a tad, I put down a piece of scrap volera and covered it with a scrap of suited speed cloth for the bottom of the chip tray. Makes it nice and easy to pick up chips when they fall flat. plus, it looks kinda slick.

The base was made by cutting out a 24″ radius half circle, screwing a crapload of studs to it, 6″ on center, and then setting another 24″ radius half circle on top. Covered the base with 1/8″ hardboard. Used some t-nuts to put the playing top onto the base.

The rail is 3″ wide and padded with 1″ foam. I documented the process more in my poker table building post, and if you need even more help, read the padded rail maker’s bible.

I used a 1/4″ headliner foam as padding under the felt. Feels really nice. Not quite as squishy as the volera I used on the poker table, but works really well for this situation.

Here is the table with the base upholstered using black moleskin fabric and a layer of batting underneath. I’ll be using the same material for the bar that will sit next to the blackjack table.

There are just a few minor additions left to do on the table. Dealing shoe, discard tray, some trim behind the table. And I was thinking of adding a money drop slot, since the hole for one is already cut in the fabric from where the drop slot was located when the layout was used at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Other than that, it’s done. And it plays great. Now I just have to get it into the basement.

Tags: , blackjack, casino fun, home casino // 4 Comments »

After building the first poker table, and then giving it to my brother for his housewarming gift, i was left with a taste of poker playing luxury. So, obviously, I had to make another table to keep for myself.

Construction was exactly the same process, differences were purely cosmetic.

I went with a birch veneer instead of oak, and used a light stain. The playing surface uses a midnight blue speed cloth ordered from yourautotrim.com, chosen to match the upcoming blackjack table.

I wasn’t able to come by a donation table base this time around so I went to the local restauraunt supply store, Kessenich’s, and lucky me, they had a cast iron base in stock that I took home that morning. At a cost of $43 for the base, it was a bargain for me.

Here’s the finished product in all its glory.

Tags: , casino fun, poker, poker table // 1 Comment »

After reading about how to build a poker table for ages, I finally just went out and did it. And it really wasn’t that hard.

Basically, just cut a bunch of circles and screw them all together…. basically.

I started out with just one sheet of 3/4″ sanded oak veneer ply. Not the lightest to carry by yourself, but hey, I need the exercise.

I was trying to figure out how to make all these circles as accurately as possible, so I put together a simple circle jig that the jigsaw sits in. It’s made of a scrap strip of 1/4″ i had laying around, screwed to a 2×2. I cut out a rectangle that the base of the jigsaw sits pretty snug into and drilled holes at different lengths away from the blade. This thing made cutting the circles a breeze. Never had to measure or mark anything. Just dropped a screwdriver into the correct hole in the jig and away I went.

Got all these circles cut out in no time with that jig. Here you can see all the pieces of the table strewn about my driveway. You can also see that I should probably reseal my driveway, but that’s another project. The thinnest ring is the rail lip, the second thinnest ring is the top of the padded rail, and the fatty ring is the racetrack.

The smaller solid circle is the playing surface and the larger circle is the base for the table that everything else sits on.

I got all that out of one 4×8 sheet of ply but it was a tight squeeze. if you look close at the 2 rail rings you can see some flat parts where the edge of the circle was cut off since the ring went outside the area of the ply. No biggie, since that is going to be padded and covered in vinyl anyways. Not really noticable in the finished product, unless you are REALLY looking for it.

Next, I put on a coat of stain on the racetrack and the bottom base piece. Beautiful.

While that was drying, armed with my pile of 40% off coupons for JoAnn fabrics, I went off to get myself some vinyl and foam. Ended up getting 54″ of whisper vinyl and 2 sheets of 1″ HD foam. JoAnn’s only has the skinny sheets of foam, so I ended up having to cut out 4 smaller curves to go all the way around the rail. (Only ended up needing one sheet. I’ll use the leftover one on the next table) To hide the seams, I just laid a small piece of thin batting that I had laying around over the seam before I stretched the vinyl over it. (What manly man doesn’t have extra batting laying around? I can see the Milwaukee’s Best can falling from the sky to squish me now)

First screwed the 2 rail rings together. Tested to make sure it still fit on the racetrack. It did.

Then I laid out the ring on the foam and vinyl. Pulled and stretched the outside of the rail, stapled and trimmed. Then cut the star in the middle and pulled inside up and stapled that down. Did a quick test and yep, it still fit on that racetrack. Yay!

The next day my order from yourautotrim.com got to my place and i built the playing surface. I ordered one yard of forest green suited speed cloth and one yard of 1/4″ closed cell neoprene for the padding under the suited cloth. I must say that suited speed cloth sure is nice. Laid out the foam, covered, stretched and stapled. No problemo. Then I just screwed it down to the center of the base piece. You can see the racetrack drying from it’s latest coat of poly in the background.

The table pedastal is from the bar I work at. It was rusting away in the basement, so I thought I could put it to better use. Used a few T nuts to bolt the leg to the bottom base.

After that playing surface was done and screwed on, all that there was really left to do is finish applying coats of poly to the race track. I ended up putting on 6 total and I am really happy with the finish. Nice and glossy, but the grain is still plainly visible. Looks good if I do say so myself.

Final poker table dimensions:

48″ total width
3″ padded rail with 1″ HD foam padding
5″ racetrack
32″ playing surface
29″ legroom under table
about 32″ total height

Materials list and (approx) cost:

1 - 4×8 oak veneer ply - $36
1 - table pedastal - donation
1 yd - neoprene - $16
1 yd - suited speed cloth - $17
54″ whisper vinyl - $14 (used 40% off coupon)
2.5 yds green 1″ HD foam - $15 (used 40% off coupon)
4 t-nuts and bolts - cheap, i just had these laying in my “shop”
an assload of staples - $2 per box

Tags: , poker, poker table // 7 Comments »