Step 6 - Poker Table Top

Combining the padded rail and the playing surface

       If you've been following step by step, by now you should have the two major components of your poker table top complete.  These are the playing surface and the padded rail.(Figure 4-1)  Now its time to put them together and complete the poker table.  When you put the two pieces together they should fit very tightly, but they should in fact fit.

      All you have to do is line the padded rail up over the top of the poker playing surface and press them together.(Figure 4-2)  You may need to rotate the pieces to line up the exact way that they fit.  If you remember, the lip of the rail was cut from the same piece of wood that the playing surface was.  The only thing filling the gap that the saw made is a thin piece of fabric.  For this reason, the railing should press into place with a little muscle.

      Once you have the two pieces together, you have two choices of how you want to secure them.  The first choice (Figure 4-3) involves simply driving a 7/8" wood screw through the bottom of the playing surface and into the bottom of the railing.  If you choose to do this you may want to predrill the holes through the playing surface so that you can make a small hole in the material on the other side before hand.  The reason I recommend this is that a wood screw will often snag the fabric and create a large tear or a run that will show on the finished poker table top.

      The second option is the one I use.  Its slightly more expensive, but works great and looks quite a bit better.  What you need is piece D and 1.5" wood screws.  This piece is the extra piece that was referred to as optional before in the tutorial.  In this option, you don't need to make any holes in your fabric, and you also get a really nice wood border at the bottom of the railing all the way around the finished poker table.  You can stain or paint this border, and I add decorative nails as well.  On top of looking nice it also adds a lot of durability to your table. 

      What ever you decide to do, you now have a very nice poker table top.  If you just want to set the table on top of your dining room table when its time to play poker, then you're done.  If you want a stand alone perminant poker table than you're going to need some type of legs.  On to Step Seven - Poker Table Legs.