Magnetic Play Board

Another Granddaughter project.

She has magnetic letters, numbers, figures, and gears. Who would have thought that some design engineer would invent stainless steel appliances and generate a need for magnetic boards outside the kitchen? Granddaughter comes over here and spends a lot of time moving magnets around our appliances and then gets frustrated at her house when they do not stick to their appliances.

The base metal is leftover 24 gauge steel measuring 24” x 24”. I applied several coats of Rust-Oleum Oil Rubbed Bronze to both sides of the sheet. Then masked for spraying with Rust-Oleum Gloss Red, Gloss Blue, and Gloss Silver the sides to create the backgammon / ace-deuce side and the checker / chess side. There are three taping sessions due to the colors and just under two full rolls of painter’s tape was consumed.

The frame is wood recovered from the bed foundation that had no purpose in life after the Murphy bed was put in place. It is finished with four coats of MinWax Poly-Shade Gloss Pecan – leftovers from other projects.

The checkers are cut from 1 ¼” dowel rods and brush painted with several coats of Rust-Oleum Gloss Red and Gloss Black with an arts paint “squiggle” to make them more visually distinct.

The chessmen are turned from repurposed wood from the commercial greenhouse then finished with MinWax Birch or Pecan Polyshade. Since it does raise the grain, there are four coats on them. The kings have gold “lids” while the queens have silver “lids” to help distinguish them apart. All have a colored dot on their tops or strokes to better identify them. They will also be pieces for a game box I am building.

I tried the gears and got them all to work.

Thanks,

Rex