When sanding for level, you might consider a variation of charles Neil's trace coating method. It works supremely well on flat work. This video is the first of three. The next two aren't as long. It might be worth your time to watch them. For this job and future flat work.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mjTSIiUiEOI     youtube.com won't allow imbedding of this video so, just click the link. 

 

Edited February 7, 20206 yr by Gene Howe

Pat this raised edge would keep the pieces on the table alright but our arms are always laying on the table and I just showed wife what you are doing and she shook her head no no no. 

 Also if you plan on doing any 1000 piece puzzles it would be advisable to build a larger table!!.

22 hours ago, Smallpatch said:

Pat this raised edge would keep the pieces on the table alright but our arms are always laying on the table and I just showed wife what you are doing and she shook her head no no no. 

 Also if you plan on doing any 1000 piece puzzles it would be advisable to build a larger table!!.

Every manufacturer I checked dimensions for will fit nicely onto this size table. Does the Mrs. not like the raised edge? In the cabin where we do these puzzles there are allot of kids and a dog with a furry tail that never stops wagging, hence my thinking the edge a good idea.

Pat I can't tell what size you are building but hey we lay our arms on the edge of the table as we are looking for pieces....This is a time consuming process so this is how a person relaxes his body but not his brain putting together these things. And I just now noticed I am laying my arms over the edge of this desk composing this reply... and this edge is 1 1/2" round over.

  We only put together 1000 and 2000 piece puzzles and the last 20 puzzles we put together are hanging in this house. Thomas Kincade painted some mighty fine pictures with lots of color and we think these fake paintings dress up any room they are in...The table we us is a 45" round with 2 extensions which are each 18" wide and we only use one extension when putting together the 1000 piece buggers....which makes it about 63 or 65 inches long....Our arms are always resting along the edge while searching for that certain piece... and without an extension in your table you might have to lay the pieces on top of each other and that just don't work.

  The 2000 piece puzzle is another bird....We use both extensions plus 2 regular size card tables and it does require lots of walking back and forth, lots of exercising.  We only have 3 out of the 20 that are 2000 monsters in more ways than I can count and 3 might just be the total number in our family... we just consider looking on the floor every once in a while for that piece we can't find on the table and that edge thought to us might turn us away from putting more puzzles together...we always have a puzzle in progress on this table and cold weather is the right time for them. The first 10 years of our retirement we put them, smiled and took them apart and put the pieces back in the boxes.... Then the last ten years we put them together , glued the pieces together, built frames for each and hung the last 20 in the house.

  My favorite is the 2000 piece picture of Las Vegas Blvd. It brings back lots of wonderful memories of friends and relatives walking from one end of that Blvd. to the other going in to every on of the casino's on both sides of that long street......Lots of changes were made to the sites along that street. Little building were being done away with and replaced with much larger casino's and they keep repeating that process every few years. It seems they have money to burn when building a casino that will attract more people with their money than the neighbors on either side of them...……..

   We have found these puzzles makes better pictures for our house for all the memories that go with each one we put together. 
This is the one we finished putting together a couple days ago. I try to match up the frame to the picture. Kincade paintings seemed to have a light foggy hue instilled in them. And just thinking this 1000 pieces might strain the extra room on your table when first starting putting one together...

Edited February 8, 20206 yr by Smallpatch

21 hours ago, Smallpatch said:

This is the one we finished putting together a couple days ago. I try to match up the frame to the picture.

 

That frame sure compliments the picture Jess.

Pat here is a shot of another puzzle with the edges together and you can see there is not much area left on this table which is 63" long by 45" wide and there is a bunch stacked on top of each other on the other end, not good if you are looking for a piece.. We do like to keep the area inside free of pieces most of the time but sometimes some get in there when first starting so they won't be any stacked together....

  I'm curious, was this a puzzle company that recommended adding a raised border on the table??

I saw this in your frame post the other day, not much progress since the last pic. lol You better get busy.  We will have four separate trays that slide in under the lazy susan part, so each person can have some of their own space to work. I totally understand the need to go bigger but we all have to work within the constraints of the space we have.  This is for a smaller living space where we still have to accommodate chairs,sofa, end tables and a tv stand. 

Edited February 10, 20206 yr by Pat Meeuwissen

Guys, made some more progress. Waiting for lazy susan hardware.

I hand planed the banding and it worked quite well. Then took my trim router and attached a 1/4" piece of plywood to the bottom to bring it even with the top of the banding to do the round over. Cut a piece of thin silicone mat to match the interior radius to sand the inside.

Got the drawers sanded, fitted and lined with 1/8" melamine. Installed pulls.