Mölkky Set Made From an Abandoned Barrel

Mölkky is a Finnish game where the players throw a rolling pin shaped stick (called the Mölkky) at 12 numbered pins. The aim of the game is for your team to get to a score of exactly 50 by knocking over the pins. If you knock over 1 pin you add the number on that pin to your score. If you know over multiple pins you add the number of pins knocked over to your score. Initially the pins stand packed tightly together but after being knocked down the pins are placed upright where they land. After a few rounds the pins are spread out and a game of precision is started to target certain pins in order to finish with a score of exactly 50. Go over 50 and your score goes back down to 25. This game is amazingly fun and a favourite amongst my family.

Diclaimer: the Mölkky set made in this instructable is smaller than the official dimensons. This is due to the availability of the wood I had access to. The game still works fine.

I made my set out of an abandoned oak brandy barrel which produces a beautiful Mölkky set that smells incredible. If you can't get a barrel this instructable can still be used to make a Mölkky set using any wood.

When working with tools always consider your safety as the number one priority! I would highly recommend eye, hearing and breathing protection when cutting the wood on the table saw, using the lathe or any of the tools in this instructable.

To make the Mölkky
set:

If making with a barrel then each Mölkky set will need 6 - 10 barrel staves (depending on the size of barrel)

If making with solid wood:

· 12 x 55x55x170mm lathe blanks for the numbered pins

· 1 x 55x55x250mm lathe blank for the rolling pin

Tools:

· Table saw

· Lathe

· Sandpaper (40, 80, 120, 240 and 320 grit)

· Pencil

· Set square/ruler

· Drill

· 2mm drill bit

· Small labels/tracing paper

· Dremel with carving bit (optional)

· Black Paint

· Paint brush

· Belt sander (optional)

Dismantle the barrel by knocking the rings off. Once all the rings have been removed the barrel should fall to pieces. I would advise keeping the staves but discarding the end pieces (the top and bottom of the barrel) because they have long nails running through them which will cause problems when cutting the barrel up into usable lumber.

Cut the barrel staves up to maximise the usable wood.

I find it best to first cut the stave in half and then cut the more curved edges from the fat end of the stave:

This will leave two fairly straight lengths of oak that can more easily be turned into usable lumber.

The finished molkky set needs pins that are 45 – 50mm in
diameter with 12 of them being 150mm long and one being 220mm long so I made 12 lathe blanks that were 55mm square and 170mm long and 1 that was 55mm square and 250mm long.

The straight(ish) lengths of oak all have a trapezoid like shape so I cut the sides off with the table saw making sure that I finish with a length that is at least 55mm wide.

After a close look at the staves you will see that they are concave on the inside edge and convex on the outside edge.

Cut some of the staves into 250mm lengths for the Molkky, you will need at least 3. Cut the rest into 170mm lengths for the numbered pins.

These lengths now need to be flattened into usable stock. Initially I was doing this with a jointer/thicknesser but it just took too long. Instead I use the table saw to first flatten the convex side of the board by running the concave side against the table saw fence. Then flatten the concave side by flipping the board.

Continue doing this until you have enough stock to glue up 12 x 55x55x170mm lathe blanks and 1 x 55x55x250mm blank.

Spread the glue evenly across the boards to build them up to the lathe blank size. I typically found it took 3 boards to do this but this depends on the thickness of the staves used.

Clamp the glued lathe blanks up and leave to dry for 24 hours.

Mark the centre of each lathe blank using a pencil and a setsquare or a ruler.

I prefer to use a set square that has a 45 degree angle on it as this will allow you to reference the same face from either end of the blank. This will increase the accuracy and prevent wastage through misaligned lathe blanks. The lathe blanks may not be completely square so drawing lines corner to corner is not as accurate.

With the centre marked, punch it with an awl or sharp thing and drill a 2mm deep hole with the 2mm drill bit. This will make it easier to put the blank between centres on the lathe

Mount a blank on the lathe between centres.

The slowest my lathe will go is 650 rpm. It's best to run the blank through the lathe at a slow speed when the blank is not uniform in shape as it will cause less vibration of the lathe.

I rough the blanks down to fairly cylindrical using a bowel gouge.

I do this for all 13 blanks (12 numbered pins and 1 rolling pin).

Once this is done I set the speed to maximum (3000rpm for my lathe) and use a skew chisel and bowel gouge to touch up the pins and make them round and smooth. The aim is to get them to be uniform in diameter but this isn’t critical to being able to play the game in the end, just aesthetics. Use callipers if you have them to keep an eye on the diameters but as previously said this is not so critical as long as you don’t go to thin!

With the final diameter achieved sand the blanks with 40, 80, 120, 240 and 320 grit sandpaper to leave a nice finish. There isn't much point going finer as the nature of Molkky means the set is going to get battered!

There will be some imperfections in the blanks if you are recycling an old barrel. Don't worry about these as they will add to the character of this beautiful homemade set.

Wrap either end of the pins in masking tape, this will protect the wood from tear out on the table saw.

Cut ONE END ONLY off each of the blanks, this will be the bottom of the pin. Make sure the pin is cut square to the side of the pin so that it will stand up straight on the playing surface. Only cut 2 – 3 mm off this end as we only need to remove the marks from turning between centres.

A 45 degree bevel needs to be cut at the top of the pin so that the engraved numbers can be seen from a distance.

Tilt the blade of the table saw to 45 degrees and set a stop block so that the pin will be 150mm tall at the top of the bevel.

I like to make these cuts so that the glue lines of the boards that made up the lathe blanks all run vertically but this again is purely aesthetic.

Once complete peel all the tape off and set the pins to one side.

At this stage the pins are mostly complete, if you have used barrel oak stop and give the pins a sniff. They smell amazing!

Skip to step 10 if you don’t have the ability to carve the numbers out of the pins

Make labels for numbers

If you have access to a printer use it to print bold numbers from 1 to 12 in a font you like (pick one that isn’t too intricate as this will be much harder to carve later) at size 100. The labels can then be stuck to the pins and carved out.

If you don’t have access to a printer (like me!) then simply type out the numbers 1 - 12 (bold, size 100) on word. Stick a label on the screen so that it covers the number and then turn the brightness of the screen up to the max. Using a pencil trace the number onto the label before peeling it off and attaching it to the pin.

Do this for each numbered pin, making sure to stick the labels to the pins so that the numbers are straight and square.

Optional extra:

For the rolling pin I like carve initials into the ends. In this case I will be carving my brothers initials as his birthday is coming up.

The process for this is the same as the numbers, pick a nice looking font (I used Freestyle Script as its nice but not too hard to carve), type the letters of the initials in size 100 then either print the labels or trace them off the screen before sticking them to the ends of the rolling pin.

My Dremel came with an attachment for engraving which allows you to use the Dremel for much smaller and more intricate work. You can probably do this step without the attachment but I definitely found it easier with. Attach a carving bit to the Dremel.

Turn the Dremel on to the maximum speed and begin lightly carving the numbers out. Once the general outline of the number is cut into the pin remove the remnants of the label and continue to hog out the number to give it more depth.

Do this for all 12 numbers and the optional extra initials

Cover the area of the number with black paint using a brush.

You don’t need to be careful to get it between the lines because any paint that is above the hogged-out number will be sanded off. Make sure paint gets in all the nooks and crannies.

Do this for all 12 numbers and the optional extra initials and leave to dry

With the black paint dry, use a belt sander (or just normal sandpaper) with 120 grit to sand off the bevelled edge to leave a smooth surface and a clear number.

Clean the number out with a damp cloth.

Do this for all the numbered pins and the rolling pin.

If steps 8, 9 and 10 were skipped then sand the bevelled top surface anyway using 120 grit sandpaper or a belt sander, then paint the numbers 1 – 12 on the pins and leave to dry. You should paint them bold and to cover most of the bevelled surface so that the numbers can be clearly seen from a distance of 10 – 15 meters.

Arrange the pins as shown in the picture.

Mark a throwing line 3.5 meters away from the pins.

Take it in turns to throw the rolling pin at the numbered pins. If you knock over one pin you add that number to your score. If you know over 2 or more pins you add the number of pins to you score.

Aim of the game is to get to exactly 50 points. First team to get to 50 wins, if you go over 50 your score goes back to 25.

Watch the video to understand more.

Enjoy!