Building a roll-top dining room table/jigsaw table

September 30, 2021 5:24 AM

A woman who will stop at nothing to slightly improve her jigsaw puzzle experience Building the table. A 3D printed tiny bathtub for her sore thumbs. First use of new lathe. Everything is at the right height because the jigsaw puzzle level can be moved up when the dining table isn't being used. A cute dog.

Previously, she built herself a proud parent.

Why the 'Queen of Shitty Robots' Renounced Her Crown

Non-paywalled

posted by Nancy Lebovitz (34 comments total)

I just clicked through intending to fast forward to the final table so I could see it until I saw it was Simone Giertz. Then I watched the whole thing.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:09 AM on September 30, 2021 [10 favorites]

Finished result at 15:30. Pretty cool, until you spill a glass of orange juice?
posted by hypnogogue at 6:16 AM on September 30, 2021 [2 favorites]

Pretty cool, until you spill a glass of orange juice?

To be fair, this applies to just about everything.
posted by hippybear at 6:30 AM on September 30, 2021 [16 favorites]

Absolutely loved this video, and love Simone! Her cute dog is Commander Scraps!
posted by ellieBOA at 6:39 AM on September 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

It doesn't matter what you do, the cat will still sit on it.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:54 AM on September 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

Pretty cool, until you spill a glass of orange juice?

She surely invents a better spill-proof tablecloth in her next video.
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 7:05 AM on September 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

Wonderful.

I have often thought about The Jigsaw Puzzle Problem and have brainstormed similar convertible tables, though not to the level of complexity she solved it with. Unlike Simone I will never actually build any of my ideas.

I loved her excitement over successfully machining the brass handles. I hope those handles are removable though because, at least in my house, they would cause daily injuries.

Her dog is the best. THE BEST.

Her friends, Evan and Katelyn, also have a pretty popular YouTube channel in case you want to watch a disgustingly-cute couple building things together.
posted by bondcliff at 7:34 AM on September 30, 2021

A cute dog.

I’m sold.
I’m at work now but this sounds like a lovely thing to watch with my husband tonight.
posted by obfuscation at 7:40 AM on September 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

Related. I'd wish a study were done on elderly people, who regularly assemble puzzles, to see if they are less likely to develop dementia. I'm convinced my Grandmother's astonishingly clear mind at the age of 100 was at least somewhat due to her love of putting them together.
posted by Beholder at 7:42 AM on September 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

Loved her joy on using the lathe... I started on a lathe and other machines are kind of downhill from there. Making a table leg or a tool handle blank on a wood lathe is so satisfying. There's something about the way the work piece spins instead of the tool that just feels magical.
posted by muddgirl at 8:00 AM on September 30, 2021 [3 favorites]

Pretty cool, until you spill a glass of orange juice?

Oh no, Simone's much more likely to spill soup instead.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:51 AM on September 30, 2021

Related. I'd wish a study were done on elderly people, who regularly assemble puzzles, to see if they are less likely to develop dementia. I'm convinced my Grandmother's astonishingly clear mind at the age of 100 was at least somewhat due to her love of putting them together.
I read a long time ago that the three best things you could do to prevent dementia were jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, and a third thing I don't remember because, I guess, I don't do enough of it...
posted by tangosnail at 9:08 AM on September 30, 2021 [5 favorites]

I'm guessing that dealing with recalcitrant electronics is helping to stave off dementia.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 9:36 AM on September 30, 2021

I've heard cross-stitch and/or embroidery is good for brain exercise, too.

I've recently taken up cross-stitch, and I love it. I've never been too into jigsaw puzzles, and while I'm into crosswords, I'm caught in this odd place because I love the cryptic variety. Regular puzzles don't interest me anymore, but the cryptics can stump me to the point I'm just staring and wondering what the answer might possibly be, even if I have every other letter filled in (which is the best you'll get in a traditional cryptic).

I don't get that feeling with cross-stitch. I just have a pattern to follow and I do the next stitch. And maybe I screwed up and have to unpick and fix things, but I'm always moving.


Also, to get back to the video, I love her note about consent. And being hard-core about puzzles so she tosses the box.
posted by cardioid at 9:36 AM on September 30, 2021 [2 favorites]

To be fair, this applies to just about everything.

Well, most of the board game tables you can buy* have some solution to this. uniquely geek has rubber gaskets, as does this build. Geeknson has a Keep Dry System. Yes, it will be a mess to clean up, but the wood will be fine and it won't water damage the puzzle / game.

*Well, pay $2,000 and wait a year and maybe it arrives, if not "buy"
posted by pwnguin at 9:49 AM on September 30, 2021

I have often thought about The Jigsaw Puzzle Problem and have brainstormed similar convertible tables,

A piece of tempered glass the size of your table gets it done pretty easily but isn't nearly as fun. Also you have to be equipped with the equanimity to look at your incomplete puzzle while not working on it.

I'm guessing that dealing with recalcitrant electronics is helping to stave off dementia.

Trading dementia for the health consequences of unbridled rage and madness might not be great (speaking from experience here as I just spent half a day troubleshooting a goddam fan (dyson) ).
posted by srboisvert at 10:03 AM on September 30, 2021 [2 favorites]

A glass cover works somewhat for flat puzzles, but doesn't work for board games (which she also mentions playing). Sticktion and air displacement are issues with glass covers too. You also need somewhere to put it that it won't get knocked and possibly damaged and that doesn't say "hey I'm a big chunk of glass awkwardly hanging around your living/dining space, don't mind me". Rolls have similar problems.

As someone for whom this has been a regular problem, I can really appreciate the lengths she's going to here, and the good reasons she's chosen this seemingly extravagant design. It is a neat take on a least worst compromise for a dual-function surface.
posted by bonehead at 10:13 AM on September 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

I've contemplated a box that stacks on top, trays lowered from the ceiling, vacuum filming in place and flipping, etc... But I like the aesthetics of this one.
posted by BrotherCaine at 10:58 AM on September 30, 2021

My family cut a piece of corrugated cardboard to table size and then we put a tablecloth on it, but this is definitely more fun.
posted by metasarah at 11:00 AM on September 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

I need this. One of the cats loves to destroy in-progress jigsaw puzzles. Especially when hangry, but sometimes just for the joy of scrabbling and gnawing.
posted by spamandkimchi at 12:25 PM on September 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

There's something about the way the work piece spins instead of the tool that just feels magical.

I agree. I watch a lot of wood turning videos, particularly Blue Guy (actual name: Andy Phillips). And frequently, while making a vase or such, they have to drill out the center to begin turning. But the piece is on a lathe, so the drill stays still while the wood turns around it.

We call it "drilling... without moving". In the same voice as David Lynch's Dune: "traveling... without moving".
posted by nat at 12:41 PM on September 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

I somehow knew this was going to be Simone Giertz before I actually saw that it was Simone Giertz.
posted by deadbilly at 3:39 PM on September 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

As soon as I thought "there is not enough Commander Scraps in this video," I got the Commander Scraps content I desired. I don't watch her videos just for her dog but ... I want to see her dog when I watch her videos.

I love her. I'm not a particular technically-minded person for the most part although I've been known to tinker a bit here and there (much more of a freeform artistic type) but what I love about her is how she makes these things seem like so much fun. I also like that she's cool with showing her failures and how many times she tries. I don't think I could ever do the things she does, even given the resources she has, but there's something approachable about the way she does things that I find inspiring.

Cool table, too.
posted by edencosmic at 4:05 PM on September 30, 2021

I always enjoy Simone Giertz's videos. But they've gotten 20% more enjoyable since she adopted Scraps, the three-legged workshop dog.
posted by davidwitteveen at 4:07 PM on September 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

Sometimes one just needs an excuse to build a roll-top. Because roll-tops are awesome.

Now I want to build something with a roll-top.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:34 PM on September 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

I just want an inexpensive, yet acceptable to the stylish partner's look desires, protection for my two awfully nosy cats. Might just have to start doing puzzles in one of the outbuildings.
posted by drewbage1847 at 10:22 PM on September 30, 2021

This was great! I wasn’t familiar with her before this post. I love seeing “makers” work, especially clearly skilled people who still are happy to share their missteps as well. We’ll definitely be watching more of her videos! Scraps is also a MOST excellent dog.
posted by obfuscation at 5:32 AM on October 1, 2021

This was great! I wasn’t familiar with her before this post. I love seeing “makers” work, especially clearly skilled people who still are happy to share their missteps as well.
posted by obfuscation

Makers like this one?
posted by Pouteria at 6:19 AM on October 1, 2021

Do people not just do puzzles on poster board? You can have multiple pieces, one for the border of the puzzles and others for various interior sections. Stack them up with another poster board on top and you can move them around as needed.
posted by AlSweigart at 8:10 AM on October 1, 2021

>Do people not just do puzzles on poster board?

We do. But now the problem is where to put the posterboard. If we had a spare flat surface to store the posterboard, we probably could have just done the puzzle there :) As it stands the posterboard ends up on the floor, which is not ideal.
posted by mrgoldenbrown at 9:52 AM on October 1, 2021 [1 favorite]

oh! Maybe I'll ask students if I can take the old poster board from previous semester projects. I use cardboard cut from large pizza boxes as my working surface to sort and to construct blobs, but that's not big enough for an entire puzzle. I can probably stash poster board underneath the sofa, once I vacuum underneath there.
posted by spamandkimchi at 10:24 AM on October 1, 2021

This would be great for a lot of different hobbies where ideally you'd be able to keep your work out for days or weeks (which can be hard in small spaces). I'd love one of these. It does remind me a little of the idea behind sewing machine tables, where the machine's stored under the table and can be elevated to work level, but the fact that you don't have extra table leafs to take up space here is really awesome.

Pretty cool, until you spill a glass of orange juice

I'm thinking you could probably attach some vinyl or something under the slats
posted by trig at 11:03 AM on October 1, 2021 [1 favorite]

With the way the slats fit together, I suspect it would have to be a hell of a spill to make it through to the puzzle underneath, but that it might be a bit of a bitch to clean off the table itself.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:07 AM on October 1, 2021

That was very cool and I would love a table like that. I also want one where the table surface lifts up and can be rotated around and reseated stably so you can do the other side of a big puzzle without having to stand and lean over it, which is murder on my back and the main reason I can't do puzzles with more than 2000 pieces. Well, that and not having enough space.
posted by Athanassiel at 5:53 AM on October 2, 2021