Tic-tac-toe and Last Man Games

One of my older, half done projects was a group of games and puzzles. I had made several "Cube in a cube" puzzles from American Woodworker magazine, September 2007. They were completed and ready to be given as gifts.

I also had several items from Rockler to make "Tic-tac-toe" and "Last Man" games using marbles. I had templates to guide a drill bit to drill the depressions for the marbles for each game as well as templates to add the lines.

As I used the drill bit I felt the depressions became less clean. By the time I got to making two Last Man games on pieces of cherry, the depressions were really looking sloppy. I was disappointed in the quality of the bit.

Instead of using a pencil to mark the lines for Tic-tac-toe using the Rockler template, I routed a small groove in the wood, painted it black, and sanded the edges for a clean line. The three Tic-tac-toe boards that I did in walnut looked the best of all the games.

I would have to say I was generally disappointed with the Rockler projects. The appearance of the finished project truly depends upon the quality of the depressions made by the Rockler bit and, in this project, those depressions went from just OK to poor. At a cost of $20 for the bit and $32.00 for the drilling and drawing templates, it is a real disappointment.