I haven’t a clue how to play anymore, but I still made the board. Someone asked a long time ago if there was a way to make one on the laser. At first, I couldn’t see why not, but after starting this one, it took 5 passes for just the holes and I still hadn’t gotten deep enough. Finally I cheated and finished them out with the rotary tool and a drill bit the same size as the pegs. I did like that it made guides at least so drilling wasn’t bad at all. I thought about painting the buffalo scenery then filling it with resin but I decided not to. I might have if it had been solid wood. This is made from birch plywood as a test project.
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Nice result. A trick for next time: cut the holes in 1/8” plywood and layer material behind it. Much faster than engraving, should only take one pass.
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I don’t think 1/8” would be thick enough for the pegs. 1/4” would though, I think.
So make it three layers deep (2 cut/engraved, 1 cut, one solid backing) and use registration pins maybe? The pins would keep the layers aligned. I like 1/16th brass rods for this, they look good and work really well. If you haven’t seen any of my little layered box posts they all use pins to keep it aligned.
Here’s one:
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Cribbage is the finest of games. I love your design!
I’m late to the party and @evansd2 mentioned what I was thinking: go with layers. Deep holes are tough and doing individual cuts and stacking layers together is a pretty viable approach.
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If this isn’t a sign for me to finally make the boards that have been in my head for years, then I don’t know what is. My wife noticed a board at a friend’s house the other day and mentioned that the husband is into the game. I’d say it’s in a similar category of Catan, where it’s not incredibly well known, but those who know it, know it.
Your board is nice, I like the rustic feel of it!
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I’ve done a few cribbage boards, and have used the multi-layered approach. I think that engraving and trying to get that depth is challenging. I just have the top layer, or top 2 layers be cut. Your design is great!
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You are correct about 1/8", however, thick proofgrade (so 1/4" whatever would work as well) works with these pegs.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KBLD3ZQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
presumably it would work with other pegs, but I can only vouch for these.
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Turned out great!