Ok, the story begins circa 2007 with the original table. I was still playing Warhammer 40k(the game that shall not be named, in certain circles) and loved Kill Team scenarios. I loved it more than the way the game was meant to actually be played. This made me construct the table so it was 4' x 4' which would be perfect for playing Kill Team.
Above is actually a newer picture of the table. It is 4 x 4 like I said and features sandbox-like sides. I built this figuring things wouldn't fall off it but after using it for a while, I kind of felt it was more of a nuisance than a help, in that eyeing up true Line of Sight as well as making certain measurements became difficult.
The tabletop itself was actually a layer of 3/4" thick pink insulation foam which was affixed to board. I have no idea why I did this but in the long run it helped me big time because the wood was not completely destroyed when I began the revamp. On top of the foam, I atomized some wood glue(watered it down to a milk-like consistency) and affixed sand to the foam with it. I had painted the sand up to be a grey urban color but then after jumping into Warmahordes changed it to ye olde brown dirt color.
For the legs, I went to ikea and bought these telescoping table legs that had metal discs with threads for the legs in the center. All in all, this feature was awesome. I could break the table down and store it away. I actually really liked this and kept the legs for a possible future project. On to the revamp.
The first thing I did was stain the sides; in hindsight, I did this too early but it all turned out ok. I was already staining a door saddle for my house, so I just did it while I had the stain out. Next, I stripped the table down to just the wood. I removed the foam and the table legs. You can see the foam in the pic above. Like I said, I don't know why I did it this way but it really worked to my benefit here. I took a spackle knife and just popped the insulation up.
I decided to not go with the "sandbox" again and made the old bottom the new top. In the picture you can see the discs that the old legs screwed into; I removed these. I sanded down the screw holes.
I had some sub-flooring foam left from a floating floor I installed and decided to use this on the bottom (old top) of the table. I used an upholstery stapler to attach this to the board. I did this because the new design is basically a collar that will sit on top of a table. You'll see that in a few.
Next thing I did was add the first layer of trim and drilled the holes for some handles. Again, like a giddy little school girl in the Hello Kitty section of the Hallmark store, I stained the trim before I should of. Oh well, nobody's perfect.
Next layer of trim went on and got stained. Then I polyurethaned the whole thing. I didn't bother fully staining or polying the top. My good friend Steve and I had contemplated what to do with the top over a meal at a Chinese buffet. He came up with the excellent idea of making it modular. So, I could have an old school felt card table top or a "sand" top for war games. So, the idea was devised to make 4 x 4 MDF boards that had the desired surface on them and could be swapped out as desired. A hole was drilled in one of the corners of the board's top so i could stick a finger in and pop up the surfaces easier.
This next picture is the table that my gaming table was made for. It is a square bar top table that has a top that measures 40" x 40" and not large enough to play a legit game of Warmahordes. So...
Viola! The table is now regulation size and I can hang it in my garage to keep the wife happy!
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