Sneaky Peak...

Well well well. I seem to say it a lot,but once again we are mopping up a project that has been on the list for about 2 years now. Ever since Lanet added her name to the esteemed list of Rocklands Volunteers almost 2 years ago, whispered comments, quickly drawn sketches and here say were all that could link Rocklands to the mysterious Carpetball Table...

...but now the time has come, the plans have been drawn, lumber bought and construction has begun on quite possibly South Africa's very first Carpet ball table. The basic concept is a table about 4-5m long, but only 50cm wide with a trough at each end and raised sides, carpeted along its length. Players stand at opposite ends of the table and line up there set of four pool balls any way they wish and then throw a cue ball down the length of the table in an attempt to knock their opponents balls into the trough at the far end. Apparently its huge in America and so hopefully it will take off here as well.

Shaun and I have come to accept that when we build things together there is a tendency to over engineer things a little and build not only big but also STURDY! The thought being that we have to imagine every stupid thing that a 10 year old could wish to do to the table...standing on it, trying to turn it over, dragging it across the floor, trying to throw it at their friends, trying to set fire to it etc, and then trying to build to withstand up to and exceeding 5 years worth of this abuse. As you will see, I think that this table would probably make quite a good nuclear bunker never mind carpet ball table!

We added struts underneath the length of the table which would then be screwed into the side panels supporting the entire length of the playing surface and preventing it sagging.

We bought some laminated pine shelves which clocked in at an impressive 3m long and would form the base and sides of the table. Standard dining table legs were used to give some nice sturdy support. We then screwed the sides on- much wider than was needed for the sides of the actual playing area, this was to give the legs structural strength and minimise flex and twist on the table.

Then to add length to the table, or rather to avoid losing length when making the troughs (3m lengths were the largest we could find) we decided to add the troughs on at each end by making 'boxes' that would be screwed onto the main table.

Just so you know, we estimate that there are over 500 screws and a litre of glue holding everything together at the moment, and there is over 20m of pine making up the bulk of the table.

That's over 500 holes that need filling and over 20m of pine that needs sanding. I think its fair to say that this is a labour of love!

So as it stands at the moment we have both troughs on, decoration down the side in place, most of the holes filled and a large proportion of the table sanded. Shaun also routed down all the edges of the top which will create a nice profile when we glue the half round onto the top edge. So a little more sanding, carpet to glue into place, a few more holes to fill and sand, a coat of varnish, and we should be finished!