Corn Hole Game Saga

[Rex]

At a Monday, September 6, 2021, class meeting I got drafted to make one corn hole game for my wife’s elementary school. When called I said it would take a week after I got the material and found the plans. I was told to start. So, with some surplus OSB in the workshop, I sanded it and painted it for the face pieces. It blistered – unsat.

With that reported on Wednesday, September 8, 2021, the project grew to three sets, six pieces. Now I need more and better material. And the options were have Home Depot cut two 48”x96” sheets of plywood into 24”x48”, 24”x48”, 24”x48”, leaving one 23 5/8” x 48” and then I cut the holes. Cost / time / accuracy the decision was buy six precut corn hole faces in ½” maple. The special order was placed on Wednesday evening, September 8, 2021, with an estimated delivery date of Wednesday, September 15, 2021. We hauled six 2”x4”x96” pieces home in the Chevy Sonic – that is all that car can handle, along with the paint, bolts, and some screws.

When it was reported that the delivery date of the faces was Wednesday, September 15, 2021, there was MAJOR disappointment. “We thought we were going to have them for PE on Monday, September 13, 2021.” (Heh, what happened to the one week after I get the materials? At least some funds were freed up for the project.)

I do not have a good track record with special order deliveries from The Home Depot. One order was more than six weeks after the expected delivery date because The Home Depot did not respond to the vendor’s query about something. Several were more than three weeks late, several were more than a week late, all blamed on Coronavirus / Covid-19 issues. Most tracked back to an error by The Home Depot. (Clue here – the delivery date being set to the order date is not “Deliver as soon as possible.”)

Thursday, September 9, 2021, I get an e-mail from FedEx telling me that The Home Depot order has an expected delivery date of Saturday, September 11, 2021. HUH???

Right at 10:00 AM Saturday, September 11, 2021, the boxes were at the door and work started for that Monday, September 13, 2021, deadline. With lunch and dinner in the workshop with added wood fiber to the meals, and temperatures over 100 degrees, the day ended at 8:00 PM. Princess Lilli the Bean of Candyland came down and helped as a quality assurance inspector. She wanted to paint and I simply could not accommodate that request with the looming possible delivery for Monday, September 13, 2021. THAT disappointed me.

Sunday, September 12, 2021, started at 10:00 AM in the workshop and it was over 100 degrees by 1:00 PM. More meals with added wood fiber. The attached photo was taken as the project was approaching a deliverable state, about 6:00 PM. Not finished, the legs need to be painted, the undersides need to be painted, the white needs its second coat, but they can be used Monday, September 13, 2021. Left the shop after some clean-up right at 7:00 PM, dead.

Now we need to get them to the school. The Chevy Sonic can handle three at a time. Joyce calls her teammate, who is “sponsoring” this program. She has a truck. “Oh, don’t worry about it. We won’t have bean bags for a week or so.”

Ten hours on Saturday and nine hours on Sunday with temperatures over 100 degrees in the workshop both days. One set went to school today, Monday, September 13, 2021, hoping SOMEONE has SOME bean bags. Now I can take my time and finish the fine details.

Moral of the story? No good deed goes unpunished.

Thanks,
Rex

[DougL]

Requirements creep, exaggerated deadlines and other departments not keeping up and stalling the whole project… Been there, done that way too many times. But hey, your output looks great.

When you put your last coat of paint on it, sprinkle a little line of sand about 2" below the hole to add another level of difficulty to the game play. LOL You can also wax the heck out of the dark areas.

BTW, I saw a set down the street which had pockets made into the back of each ramp for the bags to go and then both ramps fit together with clips so they stored and held together. Could even put a handle(handles) on a side for easy carrying. Ideas for when they ask for another 3 sets. Well done.

[Rex]

Doug,
Actually asking if I can put wheels on the same end as the legs and handles on “the low end.” These are going to an elementary school, Pre-k ~ 6th, and they are not light. I have the wheels, the handles I do not. 20, no, 50 year box.
I like the wax and sand idea.
Held together sounds good. The “command” was they had to store flat.
Several years ago I repainted all the parking lot disable blue and fire zone red at no cost to the school. Then got a call from the district wanting the MSDS sheets for the Rust-Oleum parking lot paint. This may not be over yet.
I wonder what they would do if I drank from the garden hose on campus.
Thankful The Bean is not interested in corn hole.
Thanks,
Rex

[DougL]

Yup, after the toplevel need is fulfilled, then comes the standard fitment, mobility and storage considerations. Being an elementary school, wheels make sense with all the hard covered ground they’ll probably be dragged across.

20-50 year boxes sound great. And literally probably sound great. The couple 2 doors down the street have a set which I swear must have a sheet of tin for the top. Sounds like a shotgun blast every time a bean bag hits the darn thing.

Asking for the MSDS sheets for the paint used for parking lot lines. Regulations seem to make the world go round… Or previous Principal is probably still in litigation after she ok’ed a group of parents to put down colored DG in a lunch area for TK-K which was previously just dirt. And I once asked about picking up fallen branches in the front of our school a week after a storm since kids and parents were tripping over them and was told I can’t, it’ll take away from a school system employees job. Didn’t matter it was a safety issue and they were not doing the job quick enough.

LOL, agreed we used to drink from the garden hose all the time and loved playing Jarts(lawn darts) and even drank from the stream flowing through the neighborhood. Haha, crazy dangerous things. Still love helping out at the school none the less and put up with the hoop jumping.

[Rex]

The saga is complete. Well, almost. They are scheduled for pickup on Saturday, September 18, 2021. With the additional time and materials available, they got stenciled for the the school. As I understand it the bean bags show up at someone’s house Friday, September 17, 2021.

The final touches are the stenciling, full castering wheels, and magnetic catches on the folding legs to hold them up during transport. They are heavy, 1/2" maple plywood and 2x4s and they are going to a grammar school - Pre-K thru 6th grade. I requested funding to put handles to low end - an additional $30, the request was rejected and my wife told me “No.” Total time over 45 hours.

The cost for all six, funded by at least two of us, is just over $300. A non-immediate neighbor asked if I would make a set for them and I offered them for $150 without stenciling.

I was going to do “Hanson Hawks Sore” on one but got overruled by my wife, maiden name Hanson, no relation.
Thanks,
Rex

[DougL]

Look great! Loved “Hanson Hawks Sore” and I hope you laser etched “By Rex, Grandpa to Lilli the Bean in 2021” or something to the effect on the underside of each.

[Rex]

Doug,
Under specific instructions from my wife I could not put my name on the boards.
Princess Lilli the Bean of Candyland goes to a different school. She was over Saturday, taking on the role of quality assurance. I asked her if she wanted a corn hole set and her reply was “No.”
(I was quite relieved.)
(Sore - they are for the PE class.)
Thanks,
Rex