Backgammon board / box

[rhimes]

My first box ever and a gift for my wife's birthday. If this isn't the right forum for a backgammon gameboard / box , mods please feel free to move it.

I'm still new at woodworking - started as a covid hobby with no previous woodworking experience. I'm happy with my first box. Here it is:

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What I learned / Things to improve next time:

• Try to remember what woods I used! I think the outside and dark spaces are amoora, the light spaces are pine, the other parts are tas oak, and the centre area qld maple.
• Make the centre of the board and the non-play spaces from the same timber and board so there's more focus on the playable spaces.
• Stock going into the triangle jig on the table saw should be the same size when cutting the triangles to help alignment when gluing up.
• Hinges are only little things from the big green shed, and installed a little off kilter. So the box doesn't perfectly align when closed. Should be fixable with some extra chiseling and remounting the hinges. Ran out of time before it was due! Maybe upgrade to some of those rail hinges I've seen in other posts!
• I need to work on my 45 degree cuts - not sure if it's my skills or the portable contractor saw or both! Corners are slightly off, I filled with hardwood sawdust and titebond and sanded back. Would like them perfect next time.

[Cklett]

That's pretty good. Love it.

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[Treecycle]

I think you have done pretty well on your first box especially with the complexity of it. Because boxes have a way of showing imperfections, it makes us all strive for better next time and you have already acknowledged where you want to improve, so you're half way there.

[bruceward51]

Nicely done.

A few more things to learn.
1. As a maker you will see imperfections that others won’t ever notice.
2. The only thing better than perfect is - finished!

Bruce

[AlexS]

Nice work! You've done a good job on lining up the triangles. Did you make the counters too? If so, how?

[rhimes]

Yes, I cut the counters using a crosscut sled on the tablesaw, made the dark ones from a hardwood dowel and the light coloured ones from Tas oak dowel. Both 25.6mm dia.

Thanks for all the comments and compliments!

Bruce, I have to agree - it's nice to be finished....although I did order a couple of rare earth magnets to form a latch. Was thinking of drilling into the side opposite the hinge and sinking them in, maybe hiding them under a wooden plug?