My favorite game token tray cracked during a session last night

Was playing a 4 hour game of Dinosaur Island with my group at Jake's place in Portland, and right in the middle of the second round, this wooden token tray I've had for about 5 years just split down the middle. I grabbed some wood glue and clamped it together, but now I'm worried it'll happen again mid-game. Anyone had luck repairing these things or should I just buy a new one from Etsy?

3 comments

3 Comments

wood.faith9h ago

Man, that sucks about your tray. Reminds me of this time I was playing a game of Zombicide at a convention in Toronto back in 2018 and the plastic insert for the zombie deck just shattered into three pieces when I accidentally knocked the box off the table. We used a bunch of card sleeves as a makeshift divider. For your wood tray though, I'd say try some better glue like Titebond if you haven't already, and let it sit clamped for a full 24 hours before using it again. Sometimes those Etsy trays are made from softer wood that just can't handle the pressure of tokens being tossed in and out. Maybe sand the edges a bit too if the crack is real sharp.

victor7797h ago

Good call on Titebond. That stuff is serious. But honestly even that might not hold if the wood is too soft. I bet some of those Etsy tray guys use pine or something similar just because it's cheap and easy to carve. Not great for daily abuse from board game tokens. @wood.faith had the right idea with clamping. But I'd go further. Use a bar clamp, not a spring clamp. Way more pressure. Lay a piece of wax paper between the clamp and the wood too. Keeps the glue from sticking to the clamp. Also worth checking if the crack is clean or if there's splintering. If it's splintered, you might need to fill those gaps with wood filler before gluing. Otherwise the joint will just break again.

charlescraig9h agoTop Commenter

That whole Zombicide story from @wood.faith brings back memories of a time my buddy Kevin tried to fix his Gloomhaven box with superglue after the lid split. Thing was a mess, glue everywhere, he ended up just buying a new one. For your Etsy tray, honestly sometimes those makers don't use the right kind of wood for something that gets handled a lot. Might be worth reaching out to the seller and asking what they used, some of them are pretty cool about replacements or advice. I've had better luck with those birch plywood organizers from places that specialize in wargaming stuff, they seem to hold up better than the handcrafted ones. Clamping for a full day is key though, nobody has the patience for that but it really does make a difference.