[Tnwhite]

So I gave up trying to find the time and money to prepare the sideyard for an outdoor layout, and decided to build a simple indoor layout in my rec room around the pool table. It'll be simple oval, using LGB 16000 (8') curves with 6 LGB 10600 (2') pieces making up each side of the oval, giving a grand total dimension of 8'x~16'. I might go a little wider tho, haven't decided yet. I looked into a number of kits available, and all of them extremely costly, so I decided to built my own. I'm using 3/4" and 1/2" dowels with 1" brad nails, and plan to use Varathane's "Early American" stain when I complete all the pieces. I probably should have stained the wood before starting the assemble the parts, but I completely forgot about staining when I first started this project

.

Right now I have 10/12 straight pieces assembled, 4/8 curves, and about 10/?? brackets completed.

Here's some pics:

Straight piece w/bracket:

Curve:

Dry fit:

Dry fit 2:

 

[Randy Stone]

Quite a project you have going.

Looks great.

 

[SD90WLMT]

Actually you may be better off staining it as a whole, after assembly..

Are you also using a wood glue?

Wood glue does not bond well ... to stain..

So glued & pined joints sounds supper strong, and the stain will be pretty afterwards!!

Keep going, looks great!! Dirk - DMS Ry.

 

[Tnwhite]

I'm using glue for the brackets for added strength. I put a dab of glue where the contact will be made and then drive a 1" brad through it. I just have an issue sometime where the dowel wants to split if I try to drive the brad in too hard.

Thanks for the feedback

 

[Dan Pierce]

Did you dull the point of the nail?

A point will cause wood to split, a dulled nail will push wood through and not split.

On larger nails I place the nail so I can hit the point with a hammer to dull it and then wood does not split. I have not tried this with small nails, perhaps someone else has.

Other way is to pre drill a hole smaller than the nail to keep wood from splitting.