Wood Tic Tac Toe Board

This is a pretty easy project and makes a nice holiday gift. This version was made from a scrap piece of hardwood and a 5/8" dowel. As an extra touch, I added a compartment inside the board to store the pieces. The compartment panel is held on with magnets for a clean look.

The quick video shows how the compartment works.

Tools:

• Table saw
• Router (optional)
• Drill press
• 1/2" and 5/8" drill bits
• Sander
• Ruler
• Pencil

Materials:

• Wood: 5"x5" x 1.25" thick
• Oak dowel: 5/8" diameter x 7" long
• Magnet: 0.437" diameter (x2)
• Flat washer: 1/2" diameter (x4)
• Super Glue
• Wood stain or finishing oil
• Paint (2 colors)

You will be building to this drawing.

Start by cutting the board to 5 inch square. My scrap piece was 1.25" thick but the design works for thicker wood.

My table saw blade thickness is 1/8". Doing the math, I came out with the grid dimensions shown. Set your blade height to .125" and make the four passes.

Mark the center of each square as shown. Use a punch to indent the wood.

I used a 5/8" Forstner bit for the holes. I chose to only go 1/4" into the board.

I used a router to cut the slot in the base. You could also do this cut by doing multiple passes over a table saw.

I used the same 5/8" bit for these holes. It was a challenge to get the 3.25" depth (multiple setups). Use a 1/2" bit for the washer holes.

Place metal slugs in the base holes. I used four, 1/2" diameter steel washers. Super glue was used for the attachment.

The panel was taken from the cutoff portion of the original block of wood. Drill the magnet holes at the locations shown.

I used "Super Magnets" which, as the package says, are "extremely strong". After accidentally pinching my finger with them, I agree with the warnings :). Again, for attachment, I used super glue.

Sand to break the corners. I used danish oil on the base and panel.

I used a band saw to cut the dowel pieces. You might have noticed that I show 5/8" holes and said to use 5/8" dowels in the materials list. This would be fine if you wanted an interference fit but the parts need to slide in and out of the compartment. Therefore, I sanded the dowel down by 1/32 of an inch before I made the cuts for the pieces. I would have done this using the drill press but the 5/8" dowel diameter was larger than my chuck allowed. Therefore, off to hand sanding :(.

Holiday Colors! However, you can choose to paint the dowel pieces any color.

Here are a few pictures showing the panel removed.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Thanks for viewing.