Double Six Dominoes

I have been on a small kick recently about making games and entertainment things in the shop which is way more fun than making practical and useful things all the time.  The first in the lineup was a set of dominoes because we didn't own a set and it seemed easy enough to start with.  All said and done, this project only cost me about $25, but that was because I needed a new can of tung oil to coat them.  It was $18 at Home Depot, but will last for many more projects.



I also bought a small sample can of flat black interior wall paint for $3 which has lasted me for several other small projects already.  And a 36" red oak 1"x2" S4S board for around $3.  It was nearly hidden in the lumber section on a small floor level rack full of really neat 'trim' boards which are perfect for board game projects like this.  They also had poplar and maple and a few other types.  So now that I have the tung oil and paint in supply, I can make another double six set for just $3!  The finished 6-3 domino to the left is sitting on top of one of the trim boards.


So all you need are the supplies listed above and a miter, circular or even jig saw if you have a steady hand.  A drill with nearly any drill bit size will work, it depends on how big you want your dots.  I used a 3/8" which seems like a fairly large bit for such a small piece of wood, but I only drilled lightly into the surface so the dot would have a gentle concave slope, if you use a smaller bit the angle of the tip is usually steeper and will make the center of your dot deeper.  It is really just a preference thing.  Then I used some coarse 60 or 120 grit and some finer 220 grit sand paper to make them smooth.

If you have a drill press, which I do not yet, this project would have gone much faster and the dots would have lined up much better.  I ended up liking the variations in dot size and spacing.  It gave the dominoes a real home made look and feel, but I am not nearly the perfectionist I used to be about this sort of thing.  One thing I did which made this whole project easier and allows making duplicate sets in the future is making a template (When all your friends and family ask you to make them a set).  I had a piece of that really tough clear plastic that lots of kids toys and things from the store come in (you know, the kind you have to use scissors or a knife just to open and will cut your hand open if you aren't careful).  I cut out a small rectangle piece that fit a domino template I had already cut and sanded, and then carefully marked and drilled out holes in the plastic to make a full double nine domino (that would be a 3x3 pattern of dots on each half of the domino (see drawing on left).  Domino sets can also go all the way up to double 18 but that becomes a lot of work and a lot of dominoes to make (see the chart below for what you will be getting into).  My set of double 6 was just 28 dominoes and 168 dots to be drilled and I recommend doing that first, the neat thing is I can just add the 7-8-9 dominoes to my set and convert it to a full double 9 set if I decide to later.

Set Type	Double 6	Double 9	Double 12	Double 15	Double 18
# of Tiles	28	55	91	136	190
# of Dots	168	495	1,092	2,040	3,420

A few pointers on a project like this that I learned along the way.
1.  Mark a pencil line on your miter saw or on the table so you can space your domino cuts evenly so all the tiles come out as close to the same width as possible, any variance can be fixed with some sanding.
2.  Make sure your template is top notch, or all the dominoes will be off some.
3.  Try to cut all the dominoes out in the same day or you may come back a few days later and have lost your pencil mark and have half your set look different.  (Dominoes need to be hard to tell apart when they are upside down in the draw pile for obvious reasons.)
4.  Apply the black paint to the dots very carefully.  I used a toothpick and a very small paintbrush.  Just get 1 or 2 drops of paint and spread it around carefully.
5.  A scrap piece of cardboard works nicely as a paint/finish area.


And here are a few pictures of the finished set.  Happy gaming!