Dakota Student Takes Gamble on Hand-Crafted Poker Table in Vegas

Chris Boylan isn’t old enough to gamble, but when he travels to Las Vegas, NV, this July, a poker table will decide his fate.

The table is Boylan’s submission for the 2011 Association of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers Fresh Wood Competition, which will be held July 20-23 in Las Vegas.

A recent graduate, Boylan is one of only 15 high school students in the U.S. and Canada to be selected as a finalist in the competition.

“It’s not your average piece of furniture,” said Chad Campau, Boylan’s woodworking teacher at Dakota. “He specifically designed the table for this contest. We had a student that was a finalist in 2009–the first time we entered. Chris was a sophomore at the time and really wanted to do it.

"The 2011 competition is the 100th anniversary and is in Las Vegas, so Chris said, ‘Well what about doing a poker table with unique aspects?’”

From the first design sketches, to the choice of materials, veneer work and overall construction, Boylan crafted every inch of the table himself.

“I just really wanted a project that would test all of my capabilities,” Boylan said. “I chose a poker table because my friends and I will play sometimes and it’s just a fun clean game where, if you know the cards, anyone can play. It’s just a piece of furniture I could use for many years to come.”

Working in class, after school and even during vacations, he spent every spare minute of his senior year building the table.

“I just have an interest in this kind of craft,” he said. “I could work on my project for hours at a time just nonstop.”

It was this passion for the craft and natural talent that Campau said convinced him to allow Boylan, a relative amateur in the woodworking field, to enter the competition.

“I only want to enter one student, and I need someone of the caliber that is there to make it,” Campau said. “I don’t set a kid up that I don’t feel comfortable they are going to make it. I knew right off the bat with Chris.”

Having only previously done small projects such as a chessboard and cabinets for the , a poker table was a significant undertaking for a woodworking student with less than two years formal training.

“Chris put a lot of time into (the table) and it took a lot of skills to built it,” Campau said. “He took it upon himself to design and build his own project. He utilized every tool and he learned the whole spectrum of the trade in this project.”

Campau was especially impressed by Boylan’s craftsmanship of the tabletop, which features an inlaid compass rose and contrasting wood colors that create a 3D rippling effect to the eye.

Boylan’s favorite feature is the table’s legs. Carefully designed to hold the heavy tabletop, the curved legs “definitely catch attention from people,” Boylan said.

Yet both hope it is the judges’ attention that is caught come competition time.

While the table will be available for purchase at the competition, Boylan said only a really great offer would convince him to part with it.

Winners of the Fresh Wood Competition will be announced on July 23, but all finalists will be featured in the fifth volume of the publication Fresh Wood, which will be available for purchase by November 2011.

But whether Boylan goes home with prize money or not, he said he will continue woodworking as a hobby. In the meantime, he plans to pursue a degree in secondary education.