Bags are just about completed

After a lot of tracing and cutting and masking and peeling, I am nearing the end of a two-year old project and might actually get to play with it this summer.  

I learned a couple lessons in the project.  First, it might be worthwhile to purchase and work with a higher-tack frisket for this type of project.  I thought the low-tack would be fine but it peeled up a bit and took a lot of patience to work with.  Second, this is not the kind of project to do in 90 degree weather with a lot of humidity.  this made the frisket more pliable and made it "buckle" so again, it was hard to keep it stuck to the boards.  Finally, it is far from perfect but I really like the final product but I am not sure that a yard game needed this much attention.  At least I can tailgate with a little more style though.  After I get a couple coats of clear-coat on these things, I have to go buy some brats and beer.     

A Project From The Past - Bags

It's a little embarrassing.  This project has been sitting since April of last year.  I had this notion that I would build myself a really cool set of board to play bags with.  I got the boards built and it ended with a coat of white paint.  I now have an excuse to finish them.  I'll be tailgating at a baseball game on Thursday so it would be nice to have them ready.

I have a design.  I printed it out and pieced it together out of a number of 8.5x11 sheets of paper and then laid them over the boards.

The next step is to adhere the frisket, a masking film, over the entire board.

I then put a sheet of graphite over the frisket and use it to transfer the design to the frisket.  Eventually, you cut away the parts of frisket you want to paint and apply spray paint or air brush and you get a decent clean design and it allows me to do more complex shapes than the standard masking tape does.  

The next step will be cutting out the designs and spray painting onto the boards.   I am intent on having this finished for a baseball outing on Thursday.  I have never done airbrush before and never worked with frisket and spray paint so hopefully this works out okay.  If not, we may be playing on blank boards.  Stay tuned.

More boards

Last year, I made a set of cornhole boards for my nephew. While making those, I also made a set for the Tiny Bungalow (and for when the folks from the Tiny Bungalow go to an outdoors event). Of course, things being as they are, I never finished my own boards. This is one of the projects I want to wrap up before spring.

This weekend, I started sanding the boards and more importantly, I finalized the designs of the boards. I am being daring by unveiling the design before I have it done. God knows if I can actually make them look like this. It is surely going to push the limits of my spray paint airbrush capabilities but I think they will be cool. The striping will be the hardest part.

I have been getting ridiculed by my friend Steve for not finishing these yet. He's also remarked that I am wasting my time because once they are done, I won't let people throw the corn bags at them anyway. He may be onto something there...

Finishing touches?

I have a few little things to touch up with a fine brush but for the most part, this project is done. Well, half-done if you consider the fact that I still need to paint the boards for the Tiny Bungalow.

Overall, it was a simple project. Painting was a little bit of a bitch - didn't really consider all the drying time, complexities in masking, etc. The big lesson is that I really should have gotten the right tools for this in lieu of using what I had on hand. Some Frisket film would have been nice instead of the crappy masking tape I had. It would have offered more possibilities with the design as well. A little more time would have been even better. Maybe even spray paint in lieu of the brushed-on enamel would work better. Not sure, I may have some experimenting to do.

I am happy with the project and hope my nephew is as well. For the overall carpentry on the project, I give myself an A-. It is by far the sturdiest set of cornhole boards I've seen and they are pretty tight and square. I'll spend more time patching the holes and cracks on the next set though. For the painting, I give myself a B-. I think it looks good in the end but the level of difficulty was not very high. I'm going to really have to up my game for the next set.

Round and round

I decided to do the circle the old fashioned way: I used a compass and some washable markers to trace out a circle just slightly larger than the brush I have. I then free-handed it. It came out pretty good and will look even better once I go over it with a second coat or orange. The orange and blue us starting to grow on me and I think I am not going to add another color (white) but will just play with the striping with alternate color outlines instead. I think that will punch it up enough. Wow, If I don't become the self-critical perfectionist, I might actually have this thing done in another day.

"S" is for...

I had better luck with the masking tape on this go around. I practically burnished it into the board but it worked. The lines are crisper and I have almost no touch up to do on the letter. I haven't figured out how to do the circles yet but I am sure something will come to me. I am also not completely satisfied with the overall quality. It needs something. I may get some white paint to punch a few areas up or maybe do some more line work in alternating colors. Given that I have practically no time to finish... ...why do I do this to myself?

Stripes

I'll probably stretch this activity out to several posts because it is a little tedious and I have drying to wait for in-between steps.I finished the stripes on the "football" board. I have some touch-up to do with orange afterward but I think it is going to look good. What is up with masking tape? I always end up with paint that bleeds underneath it. This is why I never understand folks that would rather masking tape a room in lieu of cutting in by hand. Maybe there is some masking tape magic that I just don't get?

Why I waited for the "S" until the end, I don't know. I think I was worried I would end up not getting it on center otherwise. Or maybe, subconsciously, I was saving the hard part for last. I have to freehand the circles for the "basketball" board. Not looking forward to that.

More to follow.

A couple coats

I put one coat of paint on last night and because of the dark colors, I needed a second this morning. All in all, it looks pretty good. The orange is awesome. I might have gone with a slightly darker blue but I think it looks good. Also, I think I'm going to have enough paint left to that giant Bears logo on the basement wall too!!!The design is going to be a skewed series of lines and an SU that looks like a basketball court and football field. After doing a little research, I found out that the Carrier Dome court/field just has a single "S". I guess this makes the design much simpler but I have a feeling I'm going to have to add something to jazz it up a little. I can make that judgement as I move forward.

Back to the boards

Nothing like cutting it close. We are delivering the bag sets to my nephew in about a week and here I am, just starting the paint job. In case you don't remember, back in September, I started building my nephew a cornhole set for his birthday. Everything was going well until.... ...actually, I don't have a good excuse about why I have been so bad with getting things done lately. For now, I'll blame it on the economy.I put a coat of primer on and have a somewhat elaborate design for the boards. I hope I can get it done. The bags arrived this week and though I got the bags and the paint at different times, I think the colors are pretty good. The design will be an SU and some graphic lines like a sports field/court. What's nice about the paint and bags is that if my nephew hates them, I can always take it back and re-paint things in an Illini or Bears motif and it all still works.I'll update as the painting progresses. Also, we have a set that I made for the Tiny Bungalow. How long it will take before I start painting those?

Well, I kinda got stuff done this weekend

I have a huge list of things I am trying to get through by Thanksgiving. Last weekend was lousy but I did get the wood funiture waxed and I built a shelf for my wardrobe so I can actually use it.

This weekend, I did a little better but I still don't feel like I accomplished much. I moved all of my tools to my work bench (not on the porch, in the dining room, in the bedroom, in the garage, etc.). I also cleaned my work bench and the area around it. This is a bigger deal than you might think.

I was also able to get the insulation on the hot water heater. It doesn't seem to fit and I feel like it is a crap shoot in terms of additional savings but I consider it a "finished" project and I guess we'll see if there is any residual savings.
I also did some wood patch and sanding on the bean bag boards. They are looking pretty good but I think I am going to take a little more time and patch a little more to make them look better. I also want to show off the designs but have them mocked up, half-finished, so it isn't worth doing that right now.I also finished demolition on the soffit at the bottom of the basement stairs and decide I now want to do more demolition. I intended on refinishing this area but now believe that head room is more important than a finished ceiling so I will come up with a way to trim and paint the exposed duct and piping to make it look acceptable.
My big project, after this is finishing the basement bathroom. I made no headway on this - but I did use the bathroom several times and it made me think about the project. I guess that doesn't account for much. This room and now the "additional" work on the soffit really makes me feel like things are piling up.

To make matters worse, I am starting to make yet another project for myself. I have wanted to bring my vinyl upstairs for some time now. I got these cool wireless speakers for an IPod and luck would have it, I can hook up my turntable too it and it sounds pretty good (and I can then move my speakers anywhere in the house). Problem: I have no place to put the turntable or any records. Solution: hell, I can make a rack for it that would look pretty good. I quickly shelved the idea because I felt my marriage couldn't handle another "diversion" from the work at hand - until I found this cool wood in the attic.It is a pile of quarter-sawn oak from an old table top. It looks cool and there is quite a bit of it five 3' pieces. Yeah, it is stained and I'd have to sand it down but it looks really cool. I could design a cabinet and use this wood (so I won't have to spend any money). This might be a way to make something without pissing off the wife. When she says, "don't you have better things to do?", I say, "but the wood was free so I'm not spending any money". She'll say, "Oh, Okay" before she even realizes that I didn't even answer her question, right? Maybe it's in my best interest to not start this project until I get a few more of smaller "must-do" itemss under my belt (I'm not a complete moron, you know).

Bags - board leg assembly

I finished assembly of the cornhole boards yesterday. There are a number of different ways that people build the legs. Sometimes you can hinge them, put them on a pivot, or leave them fixed at the 12" position off the ground that they are supposed to be.I decided that I liked the sturdiness of the fixed "board" leg but I also wanted it to be removable. Again, my friend Steve suggested a "stow away" leg that could rest under the board when not in use and could be easily pulled out when needed. I designed it so that there are two cleats on each side of the board that are positioned so that they hold the leg in place both when it is in use and when it is not. Friction holds the leg in place when it is not in use. I installed a cleat along the leg to make it easier to pull out from the storage position. And installed at a location that adds a little additional support when it is in the "play" position. It works perfectly and doesn't look to bad either.I between various projects around the house and yard to ready things for winter, I'll begin sanding and painting in the next few days.

Bags

People call it all sorts of things: "bags", "baggo", "bean bag toss", "cornhole", "corn toss", etc. Whatever you want to call it, there is a game that can be found just about everywhere in the Chicagoland. It seems to be popular at tailgate parties, picnics, and all sorts of park events. From what I gather, it is a primarily Midwestern phenomena that started in Ohio. This is one of the reasons I decided to make a couple sets. I figure it was about time I made a set for the Tiny Bungalow and thought it would also make a perfect gift for my nephew, who just turned 12 and lives back east.

One of the most appealing things about the game, besides its inherent white-trash overtones, is that it is a popular form of folk art. Most of the boards that you see people using are hand-made and hand-decorated with regional sports themes. I'll eventually post the designs I have for my sets but my computer is having issues right now. One of them will be decorated in orange and blue for Syracuse University. This will be my nephew's. The Tiny Bungalow set will have Sox/Cubs theme.
The carpentry is pretty easy and after the Adirondack chairs, it is a walk in the park. Nice square pieces, lap joints, flat wood - if only all projects could be like this. I've been getting pointers from a few friends on the design of these. My friend Steve insisted that I not make the regulation sized boards of 2' x 4' but make the typical Chicago tailgating size with a 3' length. This is what I'm going with. The "leg" design is pretty critical as well. I am opting for a single flat board leg and I'll post about that ponce I get making it.

The most complicated part of the project is cutting the 6" hole for the bags. My friend Mark was generous to loan me his hole saw. He's actually from Ohio and has made several sets of these and this tool was key.
The sides of the boards are made with clear pine and the tops are plywood. I screwed everything together with counter-sunk stainless steel screws.

I will eventually fill all of the holes, sand the assembly down, and prime and paint. I am guessing I'll finish this in another week or so.