Giant Jenga Game .... Finish Issue

[Ken Koroscil]

Hey all, I was at a wedding last month and they had a bunch of different games set up outside. One was a Giant Jenga game that a bunch of us ended up playing for hours after a few drinks and we all had a blast. A guy built it with a bunch of regular Spruce 2x4's crudely cut up. I wanted to build this game for when I'm entertaining outside during BbQs etc but wanted to build a nicer version. I got 7 Cedar 2x4x8 and cut 54 10.5" long pieces with my mitre. Sanded each one with 220 on an orbital then did two coats of Varathane.

It it looks good but now I'm thinking I shouldnt have used Varathane because they don't seem to slide to good, especially when they are stacked for any length of time? If I were to wet sand with Linseed oil or something so you thing that would take the tackiness away? Thoughts/opinions welcomed. 👍

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[Jim Becker]

Wet sanding with the oil isn't really going to help much...the wood is sealed by the varnish. But de-glossing it with abrasive may help things slide better! (wait until the varnish is fully cured...at least a month, IMHO)

[Conrad Fiore]

De-gloss as Jim said and then use a good hard paste wax on them.

[Ken Koroscil]

Wet sanding with the oil isn't really going to help much...the wood is sealed by the varnish. But de-glossing it with abrasive may help things slide better! (wait until the varnish is fully cured...at least a month, IMHO)

Ok thanks I'll try that, what would you recommend to de-gloss it?

De-gloss as Jim said and then use a good hard paste wax on them.

Excellent, any specific wax you would recommend?

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

Wet sand with mineral spirits.

[Stew Hagerty]

Excellent, any specific wax you would recommend?

Something with lots of Carnauba probably, such as an automotive wax. They're super slippery.

[Conrad Fiore]

De-gloss with a 3M maroon Scotch-Brite pad

I like Butcher's Paste wax for all my wooden fixtures and iron table tops. Makes them slick as a goose.

[Ken Koroscil]

Thanks so much for the input everyone, it's appreciated. I am obviously not a woodworker and this was my only attempt since wood shop in high school but I sure had a good time doing it. I will give an update when I get this done. ��

[Allan Speers]

Finish aside, looking at those pieces, all I can think of is h"How are they not going to split over time? Most appear to be cut with the pith inside and right near an edge. That's a very bad idea, in my personal experience.

I guess since Cedar is a rather stable species to start with, you might be OK, but the finish I'd be considering is some kind of plastic or epoxy infusion, like pen turners sometimes use.

[Ken Koroscil]

Finish aside, looking at those pieces, all I can think of is h"How are they not going to split over time? Most appear to be cut with the pith inside and right near an edge. That's a very bad idea, in my personal experience.

I guess since Cedar is a rather stable species to start with, you might be OK, but the finish I'd be considering is some kind of plastic or epoxy infusion, like pen turners sometimes use.

I sure hope it holds up, that's why I decided on cedar. If it doesn't I will use something different the next time.

[Jay Aubuchon]

Your post motivated me to look up the details for Jenga. According to Wikipedia, "Blocks have small, random variations ... as to create imperfections in the stacking process and providing additional challenge to the game." I didn't know that. Did you?

[Ken Koroscil]

Your post motivated me to look up the details for Jenga. According to Wikipedia, "Blocks have small, random variations ... as to create imperfections in the stacking process and providing additional challenge to the game." I didn't know that. Did you?

I don't know why that says that, I had a Jenga game as a kid and they were all the same and I recently bought one and every piece is identical. This might just be another inaccurate fact that Wikipedia is know for? I didn't plane these pieces so I guarantee all 54 pieces are not identical anyways.

[Jay Aubuchon]

Wikipedia references an NPR podcast for this statement. I will check it out and report back. I suspect the amount of variation is quite small, not readily perceptible.

[Jay Aubuchon]

In the third segment of this podcast, the inventor of the game explains that there are very tiny random variations in the sizes. If the pieces are too uniform, the game doesn't work.

[Ken Koroscil]

In the third segment of this podcast, the inventor of the game explains that there are very tiny random variations in the sizes. If the pieces are too uniform, the game doesn't work.

Oh ok so that's why this one works perfectly, since I did not plane anything there are natural random variations. Thanks for that.