Sunday, April 18, 2010

Repurpose Your Scrap Wood Into Great Games


Here is a project that I completed a little while back, yet it fits in great with the April Stash Bash. If you find yourself with scraps of wood, leftover from projects, and are unsure of what to do with them, why not repurpose those leftovers into beautiful board games?


After collecting various leftovers from years worth of woodworking projects, I found myself with quite a few dowel rods of different sizes, along with a piece of 1/2 inch plywood.  Just having had my butt kicked at chess the previous night, I vowed to make my game better, and so this beautiful chess board was born.  And even if my game didn't get any better, at least I have a great board to lose on, right?

The board was made by cutting shallow groves into the wood with a table saw.  A dark stain was used to create the checkerboard pattern and then everything was sealed with a couple coats of polyurethane.  The chess pieces were simply made by combining the dowel rods, cut into a few basic shapes, with wood glue.


If chess isn't your game you could also try out your luck at a game of checkers.


The great thing about this type of board is that you can also use the backside to create a totally different game.  The board shown below is used for the game "Go".  Another strategy game I'm no good at.  You could also create a board for "backgammon" or any other game of your choosing.



Here is a totally different project for a game I actually used to be pretty good at.  That is until I had a child.  Darts and kids unfortunately don't mix very well.  This dart cabinet was made using scraps from a redwood deck and a few cross sections of branches off some trees that were recently trimmed in the yard.






If you have any great ideas for games made from recycled, reused, and repurposed materials, we'd love to hear about them.

- Joshua Flicker

4 comments:

Heather - Dollarstorecrafts.com said...

These are all amazing projects. I love the chess set & the dart board case the most!! I am going to link up to them in next weekend's stashbusting post at dollar store crafts! Thanks for the inspiration!

Run Lori Run said...

The dart board case is really cool! Not many wood scraps around here but you never know, I seem to accumulate things without even trying...

Angela Flicker: The Art of Making a House a Home in Utah said...

Didn't Josh do an amazing job. The dart board cover is my favorite as well. It was a gift for my birthday. I've loved playing darts since I was a little girl. My father taught me how to play. I guess he thought darts and kids did mix, lol, granted I was much older than Monet. Anyway, I wanted a dart board but didn't want the ugly thing hanging on my wall and so Josh came up with this. Pretty nifty!

Tien said...

I love how your wood projects turned out. I especially love the simplicity of the chess pieces, how you managed to capture the essence of each one. I love the go set too and have been thinking of making my own. I think mancala would also be a good one to add to your list with its round pieces and simple setup. Thanks for sharing!

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