The Double Knotty

We toyed with the idea of naming this board "The Double Naughty," but that's knot right and proper so we doubled down with "The Double Knotty."

This is a mighty fine board that's interesting for several reasons.  It's over 2 inches longer than the two-foot Standard Cabin Board. That allowed us to really air out the peg lines and they are 22.5 inches long.  The proportional spacing is really eye-pleasing.  The board comes with two sets of metal pegs: Brass and Steel!  Why?  Well, we drilled the holes with a 3/16ths inch drill bit, foolishly thinking our 3/16th brass rod stock would fit.  HAHAHA!  So then we used a bench grinder to grind some tips onto the two inch brass pegs.  They "fit" but their fitment is very firm, so to speak.

That's when we headed out to Tacoma Screw here in Idaho Falls, hoping for the proverbial Hail Mary Pass FTW.  Sure enough, Tacoma Screw came to the rescue and outfitted us with #2 steel taper pins 2 inches long.  Man!  Those pins sure look sweet on this playing surface and they fit quite well. We Love 'Em!

Technically, The Double Knotty has 75%  Live Edges but we rounded down to 66%.  How do we calculate that percentage?  EZPZ.  We measure the total length of both edges.  Then we measure the portions of both edges that have full bark coverage and divide the two figures.  

The two knots didn't quite escape the drill bit but the holes are on the edges of the knots. There's a great sweep of wood grain running "upboard" to reach both knots.  The effect is quite nice and easy on the eyes.

The Double Knotty lies flat which is a real bonus.  We always include a shim with each Big Board "just in case" the board flexes in the future. We've been shimming our own personal Big Board for years and think nothing of it.  It is The Way Of Wild Wood. YMMV.

We finished Double Knotty quite some time ago but the whole "peg thing" threw us for a loop.  And then we noticed some sanding marks we hadn't seen.  So we had to resand the board and reseal it, too.

So, why is the Double Knotty discounted?  Good Question!  There are two reasons and the first is what I call "hole edge chipping."  I have experimented with just about every drill bit available for purchase anywhere here in Idaho Falls.  I bought a new hot rod 3/16ths bit for this board and it still occasionally chipped a hole lip.  (I've since switched to brad point bits and that has largely solved the problem.)

Second, I missed a couple of hole's alignments...not much, mind you...but the human eye is unerringly accurate.  Each of those holes is probably less than a quarter-millimeter out of alignment but I consider that a reason to discount the board.  I will only charge full price if I've done my absolute level best to make everything perfect...AND if the board's "confirmation" is near perfect as well.

If the Double Knotty was perfect, I'd be asking $65 for it, plus shipping..  So this is a pretty good deal if you're looking for a great beginner Big Board to whet your appetite for MORE!

The price is $50 INCLUDING shipping to anywhere in the Lower 48.  Note that we can reprint the Certificate with your name or the name(s) of whoever you may wish to gift the board to.  I've put a lot of time into this board and I know whoever buys Double Knotty is going to enjoy the special ambiance it will bring to their cribbage.

The line that says "Standard Cabin, etc." can be changed to whatever you wish to say.

The steel #2 Taper Pins ROCK!

Looking "upboard."

One side is perfect live edge.

The other side has some bark-less gaps.

There's also a lovely logging industry legacy gouge.  We leave these things intact and only eliminate them if requested to do so.

The "sorta" live edge portion of one side.

The grain pattern on this board is awesome! One of the two mis-aligned holes is in the above photo.  Can you spot it?

It took a lot of wiggling and waggling of our alignment guides to "Save The Knots!

Mission Accomplished!

There's another misaligned hole in the above photo.  Can you spot it? 

The Brass pegs that are included.

Knot The Ends My Friend

Here's our weekend project (July17-18, 2021) 

You can buy it for $35.

It's a great board using 8 AWG copper pegs topped with colored wood caps.  It's the Standard Cabin Board so hole spacing is a half inch with an inch between decks.  Great grain.  Good Looking board that lies flat

All the stats you'd ever wanna know.

We're making these colored peg caps available free.  Just let us know you color preferences.

We kept a telltale scuff of the logging operation that harvested this tree from The Bear River Mountain Range.

Looking "down board" toward the Point of Beginning.

The board shows nice profiles from both edges,

Looking "upboard" from the point of beginning.

See that hole out of alignment?  That's why this board is discounted.

Classic playable cribbage board at a great price.

“Laissez les bons temps rouler”

If you'd like to hear Jim Morrison and The Doors perform "This Is The End," here it is:

https://youtu.be/VScSEXRwUqQ

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All Boards Sealed with Food Grade Oil & Wax

All our cribbage board are sealed with the Gold Standard of Butcher Block sealer from Howard Products, Inc. Paso Robles, CA.  It is made in the USA and completely free of harsh chemicals.

Butcher Block Conditioner is a combination of pure USP grade mineral oil, beeswax, and carnauba wax. The mineral oil used in Butcher Block Conditioner exceeds U.S. FDA regulations for direct and indirect contact with food. Made in USA with strict quality controls. Butcher Block Conditioner is a revitalizing blend of genuine beeswax, Brazilian carnauba wax (hardest natural wax available), and pure USP Food Grade Mineral Oil that is tasteless, odorless, and will never go rancid. No contact with nuts, gluten or other potentially allergenic materials.

It is expensive: $10 for a mere 12 ounces.  However, we feel it is important to use The Best available food grade sealer for the Peace of Mind of our clients.

You can read more about sealer here:

https://www.howardproducts.com/product/butcher-block-conditioner/

Board layout discussion

Comments are below each photo.

Here's the smaller of the two boards you liked.  The knot at right dictates the layout. I don't drill peg holes in knots.  Such holes NEVER turn out correctly and they look bad.  This board has a very appealing grain.

Due to the knot, the only practical place to put the beginning peg holes is looking up the best part of the grain.

This is looking "downboard" back toward the point of beginning. I like to use the 2-2-2 layout but, in this case, the margins are too wide.

By moving the centerline 1/8th inch left and widening out the center spacing, I was able to get to good peg line sets and proportional margins.

The top view.

Top view without my 2 inch gage.

This is as close as I dare get to the knot.  The tip of the poster board would be a peg hole.

The leftover space is large enough to place the crib card.

The peg lines on this layout are 18 inches total.  Each peg hole is spaced one half inch and the "peg decks" of five holes are one inch from one another.  This particular layout works with 8AWG copper using 9/64th holes one half inch deep.  The pegs can be kept bare or capped as shown below.  The two larger diameter pegs I use are 4 AWG copper and 3/16th inch brass rod stock.  Use of either one requires a longer length peg line so that the distance between peg holes does not appear cramped.