Puzzle Board on Lazy Susan - Father's Day

This one's more function over form

Let's cut to the chase: This is a 3 foot square of plywood covered in green felt, bordered with ash rails, and sitting on an attached lazy susan, The Manhattan Project it is not. It is, however, functional.

This got it's start because my lovely fiancee's grandfather loves jigsaw puzzles. We wanted a Father's Day gift for him, so my very intelligent fiancee came up with the concept: A board that grandpa could assemble a puzzle, spread out some pieces, keep the pieces from falling off, and that he could spin around so he could reach every part of the board easily. So this is what we came up with.

I took a 36" square piece of half-inch plywood, and stretched some green felt over the board, wrapping the  excess over to the bottom. Then, with an upholstery stapler, we stapled the felt that wrapped around to secure it in place.

I cut some ash for the border and framed the board using mitered corners. We used Minwax Quick Drying Spry Polyurethane for a finish; get's the job done. (Minwax 33055 Fast-Drying Polyurethane Aerosol, Semi-Gloss Finish).  Normally I try not to use nails, but the way I wrapped the felt around the plywood, I would have been trying to glue wood to felt (bad idea). So, I used a nail gun to attach the ash border, which sticks up an inch and half or so to keep puzzle pieces on the board.

For the base, I cut a 24" square piece of plywood for the base. Mounted the lazy susan (6" Square Lazy Susan), and added some rubber feet, presto chango: We've got a puzzle board.

Happy Father's Day