Wooden Jigsaw Puzzle Table

So you are starting your jigsaw puzzle hobby and now you need some working space. How about a nice big wooden table? Can you build one of these?

Special thanks to Shawn Wolf for sharing his comments and photos for this 2nd edition of jigsaw puzzle tables. This is a dream table.....take a look.......

Here's some photos of my homemade puzzle table. We don't have anywhere in our house to just leave a puzzle sitting out, and I like doing them in front of the TV, so a temporary table was the solution.

My first attempt was larger than this one, with just a flat surface, and I used a rolled piece of felt to store the partially built puzzles. But I discovered that building a puzzle on felt wasn't an enjoyable experience, since it was hard to slide the pieces around.

So I needed another solution, and came up with this - a folding table that has a cover that can be attached to keep the pieces from moving around.

It works well, and the only thing I would change would be to make it slightly wider. It's 30-1/2 inches wide, and there's been a few puzzles in the 31-36 inch range that had to be done in sections. An extra six inches wouldn't have made it too large, and it would still fit behind my couch.

Maybe next year I'll do a Rev. 3. Anyone else have some table ideas to share?

Table in it's open position. The work surface is 29” x 30.5” with about a 1/4” raised lip around the edges.

It stands 26.5” tall. It’s made of pine 2x4’s cut to six and a smooth particle board surface.

Top view with legs folded. Ready for storage.
Here's the table with the cover in place. The covers is attached to the table with 4 bolts which have wingnuts underneath. The brass handles are for lifting the cover.

This is the cover for the table. It’s made of particleboard also, with pine supports on the top side. The bottom is covered with a layer of felt, stuck on with spray adhesive.

The felt prevents the pieces from sliding around when the table is put away in storage.

Close up of one of the bolts holding the cover in place.
Closeup from underneath, one of the 4 wingnuts used to attach the cover to the table.
View of the table on it's side showing the folding legs and the brace between them.
Closeup of bolt and wingnut holding brace to legs.
Brace removed and legs partially folded.

This sums up the Wooden Jigsaw Puzzle Table.  Special thanks again to Shawn Wolf for sharing his idea and photos. Will you build one too?