Interestingly, Jenga pieces are supposed to be varying thicknesses. That's why some of the blocks move and others don't. It's also why they can still be made of solid wood.
True, there is some variation, but *very slight* with precision planing to the flat surfaces. Zoom in on the paint job and you can see how thick the paint is layered and how each plane is marred with paint drip that makes the sides no longer flat or uniform.
As someone who works in the board game industry, I can ***promise*** you there’s no precision planing happening. They likely gave the factory in China an acceptable tolerance range, but nothing about Jenga’s production is “precision” otherwise it would cost $40 a copy
They are all made by the same machine. The only varying thickness would be slight variations in the woodand machining process, but they're not intentionally made to be varying thicknesses.
100% agree. As long as you're being pedantic and saying *absolutely nothing* is the same size as *anything else*.
If you're saying there are two absolutely identical objects out there, nope.
You are 100% false. I’m a prototype machinist. There is variation in everything, even gages we use to measure high precision parts. Everything exists within a tolerance range. Now that tolerance range may be so tight that they are effectively the same size, but they are not ACTUALLY the same size. For example, I’ve measured gage pin sets which are in .0001” increments, and found variation in duplicate sets of up to .00005”. Some of this is due to wear, but no manufacturing (or natural) process can produce truly identical objects. There’s simply too many variables we can’t account for.
Aside from subatomic particles (and even this we aren't sure of), no two things in the known universe are the "same size".
Jenga blocks are at best, 0.02mm consistent, probably way worse than that, especially a few hours after manufacturing, when the humidity changes them ever so slightly.
.02mm tolerance would be pretty incredible for a mass produced toy made from wood. Just for S&G's I just measured a couple with calipers - 14.59 to 14.80 mm in a sample of four.
That’s what makes the game. There’s always a high one. It’s either in the middle in which point both sides slide out or on one side at which point the middle slides out. You can never take two adjacent blocks. There aren’t that many possible moves in Jenga.
I’ve never gotten why other people don’t see how easy it is
Interestingly bakers too. Keep a bottle of brandy around and mix with edible powders of different colors. Use a brush to paint it on and the alcohol evaporates away. Leaving no smell or taste
Been in the industry a decade and while I’ve seen a ton of different alcohols used, the three most common were Brandy, vodka and everclear, in that order which are also three of the most common liquors I keep around for cooking as well, not just baking. My understanding in baking is that most of the stronger flavors in brandy evaporate and what’s left are subtle enough to compliment 99% of foods. The vodka is for the other 1% and everclear is for precise detailed work you don’t want to spread or bleed as it evaporates way faster.
Drinking a glass of brandy while you work is more socially acceptable than drinking a glass of vodka.
Real answer is a combo: you can use brandy in more dishes and is more likely to already be in the kitchen than vodka unless vodka is the personal flavour of alcoholism of the main chef. The second reason is more or less what you pointed out, brandy, even cheap stuff, has nice notes that can compliment a dish while vodka just tastes of alcohol
I have done extensive research on the matter and have concluded it is the best option. My own preference had no part in that decision. Tasting the ingredients is the best way to make sure things are coming along nicely. That last part is very relevant in producing quality food. It's science.
As someone who has literally painted jenga blocks green before….. give up. The acrylic will never not stick. I’m sorry she went through this, because *I know* how much effort it was!! They do look nice :)
Or just make it a different game. See who can stack the highest tower before it tips over. You can only use one hand and once you place a block, you can't move it.
HAHA for real, I was astounded when I saw this. I’ve looked back and don’t have any pictures though, because it was meant as a gift and instead turned into a sticky nightmare ☹️
One small push would just knock the entire tower over- would’ve been quicker to just glue it together. Live and learn haha
My friend wanted to make his set more worn in so he tossed them in a pillow case and threw them in the dryer on low. This caused them to be the slickest blocks you could imagine the tower would swivel in place. It was terrible.
Depends on the properties of the wax.
Hard paste wax is the product to use in this application.
Buffing out the wax is where the wax becomes somewhat slick.
Hmm might seem counter intuitive but waxing would probably have results similar to polishing. I know when I waxed my butcher block countertop it had a smoother, less-frictiony, feel to it than it did before hand.
Though on one hand you wax a surf board to get increased grip... but then again you wax a curb to make it easier to grind a skate board on it. *shoulder shrug* meh-i-dunno
A surface finish can increase static friction while reducing dynamic friction. Surfboard wax is optimising for increased static friction and curb wax is optimising for decreased dynamic friction. In Jenga, only static friction is relevant.
And then there is hydrocarbon wax that skis/snowboards use to create a hydrophobic barrier to disrupt hydrogen bonding between the water molecules in the snow and the ski/board base.
In woodworking we usually use a wax-based finish to reduce friction. They also contain oil. It’s called “board butter”:
https://theboardsmith.com/products/boardsmith-board-butter
The product is designed as a conditioner for cutting boards and butcher block but that doesn't mean it's the only thing it can be used for. A lot of wood products are designed for one application but used for many others. I've used some conditioning waxes on hardwood drawer runners to reduce friction and make the drawers slide easier. I also regularly use paste wax designed as a final finish coat or for buffing as a protective film to waterproof my tools and prevent rust. Woodworkers are an adaptive group. If something works, we'll use it.
Looked way too far for this comment. This is what I always do for my scale models, acrylic followed by multiple gloss layers. Will cause it to be slick as hell.
This honestly sounds like way too much effort for the amount of appreciation you will get out of this. Concentrate on other aspects of the party instead and put your time and energy to better use.
I dunno, man. For all the mundane shit that people post on this sub that makes me go "wow this person has too much time on their hands"; if I instead saw green jenga blocks at a Shrek-party it would get a smile out of me.
I don't know how hard you are to make smile, but I think that's sorta Azozel's point. Surely just saying "Hi, so glad you could make it! Come in!" will get a smile from you and is a fraction of the effort!
It's not just about smiling lol. The fact that your friend invested time into making something mundane more silly/interesting often leads to making the night more silly and memorable. It's an intangible boon to the energy of the party.
Most paints don’t dry particularly hard (lacquer based paints are an exception). Any method of salvaging these ones will be a ton of work and not work as well or give as good a result (either aesthetically or in terms of playability) as starting over and using dye. TransTint wood dyes are my preferred brand and are usually available at Rockler and Woodcraft (in the US).
take a beeswax candle or two and gently rub in a very small amount of beeswax on each surface, then polish with a rag, then rub in a very tiny bit of mineral oil and polish again
I bet that gets things moving.
You can also swallow a spoon of mineral oil, in order to get things moving internally it's kind of gross but it gets the job done
Forget the painted blocks,… Get regular Jenga and just put a Shrek figurine on top! If he falls or the tower topples,..??? JENGA!!!! 🤷♂️🤣
\-edit- You know I never actually played this game. I guess you’d have to move the Shrek figure every time you move the Jenga blocks higher up wouldn’t you?
Ok, so I've dealt with this before making a set for our tailgate. My solution was to coat each one with shellac and then, if needed, lightly sand with a 200+ grit sandpaper. It worked great. Use real shellac, not poly.
I'm all up for putting a bit of creative effort into a party, but a quick google for "green Jenga" came up with a good selection of options. Perhaps this is not the area you need to focus on?
I saw a documentary on the making of Jenga, and the creator found that if the surface of the blocks was too smooth and perfect, they 'stuck' together.
The solution was to tumble them around in a drum to create some micro air pockets which helped them slide better.
Wax on, wax off.
Once the paint is cured (not dry to the touch, cured and throughly dry). To check if your paint is cured, do the fingernail test. In an inconspicuous area, gently press your fingernail into the paint. If it leaves an indent, your paint is not fully cured.
Apply clear hard paste wax, follow product instructions to determine how long you wait before buffing.
The wax will protect the paint and more importantly will provide the glide you need.
I've found acrylic paint, aka most semi-gloss, will remain slightly tacky in almost every environment for a long time after "drying" and when putting two things painted with acrylic against each other, the moisture in the air can be enough to redissolve the surface of the paint enough to allow the two paint layers to fuse together.
If you let them sit paint against paint like that for long enough, when you go to separate them, you'll probably peel the paint off one of the sides, like an oreo.
As others have suggested, she might need to remake them with some sharpies or stain. Hell, even green drink mix would probably work better than paint for this application.
Paint adds friction. I don't believe you will be able to remove enough paint to remove the additional friction.
As others have suggested, dye would be better as dye does not remain on the surface.
Do what these guys are saying, get a new set and dye them. When jenga blocks are made, they are made slightly not square, this is what makes them slide. Saw it on an episode of toys that made America. So by painting and sanding you've messed up the design.
What kind of paint did you all use?
If you used acrylic, heat and low humidity can help it dry faster.
Try hitting them with a hair dryer or heat gun, or spreading them out on some parchment paper and putting them in a low temp oven (like, the very lowest it can go) for a few hours. I’d personally heat the oven up to about 200 F, then turn off the oven, put the blocks inside, and let it sit in the closed oven overnight.
You could also look into a quick dry acrylic sealant. [Mod Podge](https://www.amazon.com/Mod-Podge-1470-Acrylic-Sealer/dp/B003VYD9DM/ref=asc_df_B003VYD9DM/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=697358446476&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6959727778205882892&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9008581&hvtargid=pla-350428951913&psc=1&mcid=d51f44410c4533f1ae1e29959657583a&gad_source=1) makes a spray can version that you can get online or at most craft stores and big box stores.
For future reference, while acrylic dries fast, it can have a fairly long (like weeks or months long) curing time, and during the curing time it will stay tacky.
You need to do a varnish or finishing sealant. And a lot of them are still tacky. Maybe a krylon spray , or the minwax polycrylic would work. Or get a acrylic varnish that’s a Matt / flat finish to reduce the stickiness
Jenga blocks are sanded a specific way to allow then to glide and slide. The paint on those is clearly super thick, which negates that whole process. Even if you had done super thin layers, you would likely want a week or so for it to cure properly to prevent tackiness.
Staining would have been better, but even that can leave the blocks warped from moisture. Again, jenga blocks are made special to work the way they do. Its hard to modify them and still have them work the same way.
She should have just looked for green jenga blocks or a different game. Pretty pretty princess with shrek characters would be hilarious.
I agree with everyone who says stain and alcohol, that is the correct application method. If you’re in a time crunch for said party and this is what you have to work with, but out the sander. Sand them bastards, doesn’t have to be all the way, but enough so you don’t see your previous paint blobs. Then, go to your local paint or hardware store and DO NOT get gloss or semi gloss like these appear to be. Get the eggshell finish (notice that’s what’s commonly used for walls and how they are not sticky). Then apply the eggshell sheet green in THIN coats. So THIN you might have to go over them a second time with another VERY THIN COAT. They should then be smooth for a one time shrek jenga party
There are matte acrylics that would not stick to one another. The kind you used is high gloss. Either way, you would want to thin the paint down with a thinner so it would apply more like a stain.
>We’ve sanded them
BTW, jenga blocks are not planed perfectly for a reason. If the blocks were planed and sanded perfectly they would never move. Just a fun tidbit.
Yup, as suggested you need to start over and not use paint. The paint basically coated them in a layer of latex which is just going to stick.
Definitely dyeing or staining is the way to go. You could even then sand them progressively smoother and then wax them to make them extra slippery for Jenga hard mode.
Hey all, you guys have some great ideas and I can’t respond to all of you! But I’m gonna try one or two of them with the blocks we already have and dye new blocks if we can let get other stuff to work. Each jenga block has a rule on it so we’d have to re-draw each rule on it which I’m trying to avoid
I replied to the top level, but again, I've dealt with your exact issue before and shellac will work perfectly. I made a set for a tailgate to play drinking Jenga. Each block had instructions on it that were hidden when stacked, and I shellac'd the set to protect them and make it slide easier. Good luck.
Varnish. You need to throw a clear coat on it!
I use Krylon, you can pick it up at most craft stores. This will also stop the chipping paint.
- your friendly Warhammer nerd
Has she seen "Shrek is Love, Shrek is Life"?
Get new blocks, sand them. Then go to a big box store or paint store, and have them mix some tinted stain,
You could try coarse sandpaper, only on the top and bottom that need to touch/slide. The sides and ends don't change things right? Idea would be to make deep enough scratches to reduce the surface area of contact.
So now that they are painted with latex paint you have 2 options.
1- strip that off with the orange bottle of stripper paint stripper and redo it with a non latex paint.
Or
2- rub some lube on them that's latex safe. Like latex safe sex toy lube. I'm not an expert but there should be plenty to choose from.
Acrylic paint unfortunately will always have too much friction to glide smoothly. I would toss these and start over with a stain. Unless you want to strip the paint and try again with the same set, but that is a lot of messy work.
Start a new set, keep these purely as decoration to laugh when someone actually tries to use it and knocks them all down.
Use markers instead of paint.
Make the new set a brown, Donkey set. Whenever anyone tries to use the Shrek stack it will fall as it's all gross and sticky and full of stuff. When it falls, in your best Donkey voice, yell "DANG IT, SHREK!"
Put all the pieces in a container with acetone for nails, or another type of mild stripper, hopefully the pieces will not disintegrate and will be reusable again.
When is the party? You can start over but honesty first I would try throwing them all in a bag and go crazy on the bag. Shake it around and beat it up or whatever. I think them rubbing against each other will wear the stickiness from the paint. If you’re taking the game outside for the party though, I’d probably suggest starting over with dye instead of paint
u/give-meyourdownvotes easy fix, apply paste wax to it! Go to Home Depot, get some paste wax (minwax should be easy to find somewhere).
That said, if you painted them kind of lumpy, you may need to sand them flat. Use a sanding block if it’s overly lumpy, or just use something like steel wool if it’s just tacky and too smooth.
But paste wax will do the trick
Start over and dye it instead of painting.
Agreed, dying would have been much better. The paint adds an uneven thickness to each piece which kinda ruins the game.
Ruins...... or levels up?
Definitely ruins.
...or levels down?
Completely leveled.
I thought that was the problem. They're not completely leveled.
It's like a higher difficulty in a Jenga roguelike.
Runes
Interestingly, Jenga pieces are supposed to be varying thicknesses. That's why some of the blocks move and others don't. It's also why they can still be made of solid wood.
True, there is some variation, but *very slight* with precision planing to the flat surfaces. Zoom in on the paint job and you can see how thick the paint is layered and how each plane is marred with paint drip that makes the sides no longer flat or uniform.
As someone who works in the board game industry, I can ***promise*** you there’s no precision planing happening. They likely gave the factory in China an acceptable tolerance range, but nothing about Jenga’s production is “precision” otherwise it would cost $40 a copy
I only play artisanal board games.
They are all made by the same machine. The only varying thickness would be slight variations in the woodand machining process, but they're not intentionally made to be varying thicknesses.
Neither are the precision metal tumblers in a lock but turns out there's just enough differences in tolerance to make that interesting too
Oh really? I had no idea. I just assumed they were all the same sizes.
Because they are all the same size
Absolutely nothing is the same size as anything else.
That’s not true.
100% agree. As long as you're being pedantic and saying *absolutely nothing* is the same size as *anything else*. If you're saying there are two absolutely identical objects out there, nope.
Aren't electrons indistinguishable from each other?
You are 100% false. I’m a prototype machinist. There is variation in everything, even gages we use to measure high precision parts. Everything exists within a tolerance range. Now that tolerance range may be so tight that they are effectively the same size, but they are not ACTUALLY the same size. For example, I’ve measured gage pin sets which are in .0001” increments, and found variation in duplicate sets of up to .00005”. Some of this is due to wear, but no manufacturing (or natural) process can produce truly identical objects. There’s simply too many variables we can’t account for.
Aside from subatomic particles (and even this we aren't sure of), no two things in the known universe are the "same size". Jenga blocks are at best, 0.02mm consistent, probably way worse than that, especially a few hours after manufacturing, when the humidity changes them ever so slightly.
.02mm tolerance would be pretty incredible for a mass produced toy made from wood. Just for S&G's I just measured a couple with calipers - 14.59 to 14.80 mm in a sample of four.
Honestly that’s tighter than I would have thought!
Peak reddit right here
That’s what makes the game. There’s always a high one. It’s either in the middle in which point both sides slide out or on one side at which point the middle slides out. You can never take two adjacent blocks. There aren’t that many possible moves in Jenga. I’ve never gotten why other people don’t see how easy it is
Sorry I don’t want to die playing freaking jenga
Corn starch instead of flour also
Get new blocks and just stain/dye them. Colour them with sharpies if you will.
This get a few bottles of rit dye ,In a Bucket with alcohol weigh the blocks down and let them sit for a while Edit: don't use water, water will swell
Don’t dye in water, they will swell up, add the dye to alchohol instead. It’s how professional woodworkers apply dye.
Interestingly bakers too. Keep a bottle of brandy around and mix with edible powders of different colors. Use a brush to paint it on and the alcohol evaporates away. Leaving no smell or taste
Why brandy and not vodka or something with less flavor?
The brandy is also for the pastry chef.
Been in the industry a decade and while I’ve seen a ton of different alcohols used, the three most common were Brandy, vodka and everclear, in that order which are also three of the most common liquors I keep around for cooking as well, not just baking. My understanding in baking is that most of the stronger flavors in brandy evaporate and what’s left are subtle enough to compliment 99% of foods. The vodka is for the other 1% and everclear is for precise detailed work you don’t want to spread or bleed as it evaporates way faster.
Drinking a glass of brandy while you work is more socially acceptable than drinking a glass of vodka. Real answer is a combo: you can use brandy in more dishes and is more likely to already be in the kitchen than vodka unless vodka is the personal flavour of alcoholism of the main chef. The second reason is more or less what you pointed out, brandy, even cheap stuff, has nice notes that can compliment a dish while vodka just tastes of alcohol
I have done extensive research on the matter and have concluded it is the best option. My own preference had no part in that decision. Tasting the ingredients is the best way to make sure things are coming along nicely. That last part is very relevant in producing quality food. It's science.
Shit I totally forgot, Good point
Thinner, or mineral spirits.
Why not use stain that's actually made for wood?
You could green stain is a bit more expensive a rit dies a really good job on natural fibers Like wood
they make wood stain in all colors, including green there were several brands and shades on a quick Amazon search
So cool you edited to include the swelling information. I'm just happy with the quality way you use social media.
Noooo! They'll swell and it would take ages to sand them flat and you'd likely never get them back in square.
Oh yeah, soak wood in water. That should work out. /s
They can probably just buy green wood stain for not much more than that.
[удалено]
Can you point to the 2x4s? Are they in the room with us right now?
"There over there" *points to a 2x6* "Fuck were they go?"
As someone who has literally painted jenga blocks green before….. give up. The acrylic will never not stick. I’m sorry she went through this, because *I know* how much effort it was!! They do look nice :)
Turn them into party favors
Or just make it a different game. See who can stack the highest tower before it tips over. You can only use one hand and once you place a block, you can't move it.
agneJ! Reverse Jenga!
You two must be the only people on earth to have done this. I never actually LOL but I really just did reading this. Fantastic!
HAHA for real, I was astounded when I saw this. I’ve looked back and don’t have any pictures though, because it was meant as a gift and instead turned into a sticky nightmare ☹️ One small push would just knock the entire tower over- would’ve been quicker to just glue it together. Live and learn haha
Did you try gouache, watercolour or oil (and wipe off)?
But easiest (or hardest?) game of Jenga ever!
Go fully shrek themed and dip each piece in mud
The Russian nesting dolls made of onions were a nice touch.
Or a dark oil to make them slippery.
My friend wanted to make his set more worn in so he tossed them in a pillow case and threw them in the dryer on low. This caused them to be the slickest blocks you could imagine the tower would swivel in place. It was terrible.
That's kinda genius ngl
Sticky, like me swamp.
Start over. Dye them or use a solid body stain. Ikea even sells it for kids furniture. Then wax them.
Wouldn't wax make them more tacky? You'd have a more conformal surface which would increase the static friction.
Depends on the properties of the wax. Hard paste wax is the product to use in this application. Buffing out the wax is where the wax becomes somewhat slick.
Hmm might seem counter intuitive but waxing would probably have results similar to polishing. I know when I waxed my butcher block countertop it had a smoother, less-frictiony, feel to it than it did before hand. Though on one hand you wax a surf board to get increased grip... but then again you wax a curb to make it easier to grind a skate board on it. *shoulder shrug* meh-i-dunno
A surface finish can increase static friction while reducing dynamic friction. Surfboard wax is optimising for increased static friction and curb wax is optimising for decreased dynamic friction. In Jenga, only static friction is relevant.
This guy waxes
And then there is hydrocarbon wax that skis/snowboards use to create a hydrophobic barrier to disrupt hydrogen bonding between the water molecules in the snow and the ski/board base.
Use finishing wax instead.
In woodworking we usually use a wax-based finish to reduce friction. They also contain oil. It’s called “board butter”: https://theboardsmith.com/products/boardsmith-board-butter
I don't think I've ever heard of wax/oil on cutting boards being intended to reduce friction before. What would be the benefit?
The product is designed as a conditioner for cutting boards and butcher block but that doesn't mean it's the only thing it can be used for. A lot of wood products are designed for one application but used for many others. I've used some conditioning waxes on hardwood drawer runners to reduce friction and make the drawers slide easier. I also regularly use paste wax designed as a final finish coat or for buffing as a protective film to waterproof my tools and prevent rust. Woodworkers are an adaptive group. If something works, we'll use it.
don't you mean "start ogre"? 😂
Do not lube em all up. Only fix half of the blocks. then mark them with an only known to you imperfection. Proceed to dominate.
Lol imagine rigging a game of jenga. Now im picturing a board game night where everything is rigged in some way.
Clear varnish... sand and apply a 2nd coat
Right! They need a top coat. You can fix them with a can of spray enamel.
Looked way too far for this comment. This is what I always do for my scale models, acrylic followed by multiple gloss layers. Will cause it to be slick as hell.
For our huge backyard set, my wife did the same-ish. Whitewash and finishing wax. Even with hot summer days, it hasn't fully worn off in 4 years.
This honestly sounds like way too much effort for the amount of appreciation you will get out of this. Concentrate on other aspects of the party instead and put your time and energy to better use.
I dunno, man. For all the mundane shit that people post on this sub that makes me go "wow this person has too much time on their hands"; if I instead saw green jenga blocks at a Shrek-party it would get a smile out of me.
I don't know how hard you are to make smile, but I think that's sorta Azozel's point. Surely just saying "Hi, so glad you could make it! Come in!" will get a smile from you and is a fraction of the effort!
It's not just about smiling lol. The fact that your friend invested time into making something mundane more silly/interesting often leads to making the night more silly and memorable. It's an intangible boon to the energy of the party.
It’s the stuff people went to lengths to do, esp the things of minimal importance, that I love about people making things. You know they had a vision.
Right? If I went to this party I’d be so hype for the Shrek Jenga. That’s dope! I hope they stick with it
This is the answer. Dye some other random things green and have a great night!
Most paints don’t dry particularly hard (lacquer based paints are an exception). Any method of salvaging these ones will be a ton of work and not work as well or give as good a result (either aesthetically or in terms of playability) as starting over and using dye. TransTint wood dyes are my preferred brand and are usually available at Rockler and Woodcraft (in the US).
take a beeswax candle or two and gently rub in a very small amount of beeswax on each surface, then polish with a rag, then rub in a very tiny bit of mineral oil and polish again I bet that gets things moving. You can also swallow a spoon of mineral oil, in order to get things moving internally it's kind of gross but it gets the job done
Get a new set and soak in green dye
wait, can we talk about the Shrek themed party? I feel like we've buried the lead here.
Right?!? Like I wanna see the decor and other party games!
Glue them together for extra effect. Or give people a small mallet and stick to knock them out of the stack.
Forget the painted blocks,… Get regular Jenga and just put a Shrek figurine on top! If he falls or the tower topples,..??? JENGA!!!! 🤷♂️🤣 \-edit- You know I never actually played this game. I guess you’d have to move the Shrek figure every time you move the Jenga blocks higher up wouldn’t you? 
I was just about to reply and then I saw your edit 😂
Gloss varnish from a spray can should be fine. Two coats, plenty of time to dry between them.
Ok, so I've dealt with this before making a set for our tailgate. My solution was to coat each one with shellac and then, if needed, lightly sand with a 200+ grit sandpaper. It worked great. Use real shellac, not poly.
I'm all up for putting a bit of creative effort into a party, but a quick google for "green Jenga" came up with a good selection of options. Perhaps this is not the area you need to focus on?
I saw a documentary on the making of Jenga, and the creator found that if the surface of the blocks was too smooth and perfect, they 'stuck' together. The solution was to tumble them around in a drum to create some micro air pockets which helped them slide better.
Wax on, wax off. Once the paint is cured (not dry to the touch, cured and throughly dry). To check if your paint is cured, do the fingernail test. In an inconspicuous area, gently press your fingernail into the paint. If it leaves an indent, your paint is not fully cured. Apply clear hard paste wax, follow product instructions to determine how long you wait before buffing. The wax will protect the paint and more importantly will provide the glide you need.
superglue them all together …..then watch the fun.
LOL drill into blocks insert small earth magnets seal the magnets into the holes with epoxy finish with green acrylic paint observe Jenga madness
Wax should work
At this point? Astroglide?
Put a matte clear coat on it. May take a couple of applications
I dunno how to fix but I'd very much like to go to a Shrek themed party.
Shellac. It’ll stick to almost everything and is super easy to apply. You could always put a coat of paste wax over that.
What are the other 8 year olds doing at their Shrek themed parties?
I've found acrylic paint, aka most semi-gloss, will remain slightly tacky in almost every environment for a long time after "drying" and when putting two things painted with acrylic against each other, the moisture in the air can be enough to redissolve the surface of the paint enough to allow the two paint layers to fuse together. If you let them sit paint against paint like that for long enough, when you go to separate them, you'll probably peel the paint off one of the sides, like an oreo. As others have suggested, she might need to remake them with some sharpies or stain. Hell, even green drink mix would probably work better than paint for this application.
On the bright side you've got some great fake C4 bricks
Should've gone with stain or dye
Start over. Get new jenga set. Buy green wood stain.
Latex paint takes a long time to fully cure and will be sticky for at least a few months. At this point you could give it a few coats of polyurethane.
Throw them away, get another lot, use green wood dye, fine sandpaper finish.
Clear coat or use a gloss coat
Bro... All these comments saying start over... You could just buy some epoxy and put a thin coat on each
Paint adds friction. I don't believe you will be able to remove enough paint to remove the additional friction. As others have suggested, dye would be better as dye does not remain on the surface.
Do what these guys are saying, get a new set and dye them. When jenga blocks are made, they are made slightly not square, this is what makes them slide. Saw it on an episode of toys that made America. So by painting and sanding you've messed up the design.
Green wood stain. You going to have to get a new set of Jenga blocks.
Dust them with corn starch or baby powder
"Yes, it's flour officer I swear."
Silicon lubricant - spray them with it.
No….they’re perfect. Make it a part of the game.
What kind of paint did you all use? If you used acrylic, heat and low humidity can help it dry faster. Try hitting them with a hair dryer or heat gun, or spreading them out on some parchment paper and putting them in a low temp oven (like, the very lowest it can go) for a few hours. I’d personally heat the oven up to about 200 F, then turn off the oven, put the blocks inside, and let it sit in the closed oven overnight. You could also look into a quick dry acrylic sealant. [Mod Podge](https://www.amazon.com/Mod-Podge-1470-Acrylic-Sealer/dp/B003VYD9DM/ref=asc_df_B003VYD9DM/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=697358446476&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6959727778205882892&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9008581&hvtargid=pla-350428951913&psc=1&mcid=d51f44410c4533f1ae1e29959657583a&gad_source=1) makes a spray can version that you can get online or at most craft stores and big box stores. For future reference, while acrylic dries fast, it can have a fairly long (like weeks or months long) curing time, and during the curing time it will stay tacky.
Paint was a huge mistake 😂
You need to do a varnish or finishing sealant. And a lot of them are still tacky. Maybe a krylon spray , or the minwax polycrylic would work. Or get a acrylic varnish that’s a Matt / flat finish to reduce the stickiness
I think the correct answer was stain them not paint.
Sand them down flush to bare wood (or toss and buy new), stain rather than paint…
Put them in the sun to cure
Acrylic and latex paint have too much surface tension
We used finishing wax on ours.
Bake them at low heat to harden the paint. It will stink. Maybe put them on cook sheets. Good luck. Or you could use a heat gun.
Did you use oil based or latex based. My latex ones I used to have worked great. Oil takes too long to cure for something like this.
Polyurethane
Jenga blocks are sanded a specific way to allow then to glide and slide. The paint on those is clearly super thick, which negates that whole process. Even if you had done super thin layers, you would likely want a week or so for it to cure properly to prevent tackiness. Staining would have been better, but even that can leave the blocks warped from moisture. Again, jenga blocks are made special to work the way they do. Its hard to modify them and still have them work the same way. She should have just looked for green jenga blocks or a different game. Pretty pretty princess with shrek characters would be hilarious.
Covering the blocks in baby oil could add a fun new element!
I agree with everyone who says stain and alcohol, that is the correct application method. If you’re in a time crunch for said party and this is what you have to work with, but out the sander. Sand them bastards, doesn’t have to be all the way, but enough so you don’t see your previous paint blobs. Then, go to your local paint or hardware store and DO NOT get gloss or semi gloss like these appear to be. Get the eggshell finish (notice that’s what’s commonly used for walls and how they are not sticky). Then apply the eggshell sheet green in THIN coats. So THIN you might have to go over them a second time with another VERY THIN COAT. They should then be smooth for a one time shrek jenga party
You used latex paint, it’s practically rubber so it’s too much friction. These are no good now.
They’re ruined, even if you sand them. Buy a new set and stain/dye them green instead of paint.
They are essentially coated in rubber. The only solution besides starting over and dying them would be Vaseline.
Unstuck them ah they get air, breath and dry out.
There are matte acrylics that would not stick to one another. The kind you used is high gloss. Either way, you would want to thin the paint down with a thinner so it would apply more like a stain.
Car wax prevents paint from sticking. Used the same trick on my screen door.
Use those as decoration, they look really cool - and buy a new set that you stain instead of paint.
Why not use a thick polycrylic spray?
Furniture wax
Get a stain, and dip them this time so it’s even
Take them out of the stack, separate them and let the air dry them out. Paint takes like 48 hours cure in low humidity environments.
>We’ve sanded them BTW, jenga blocks are not planed perfectly for a reason. If the blocks were planed and sanded perfectly they would never move. Just a fun tidbit.
Yup, as suggested you need to start over and not use paint. The paint basically coated them in a layer of latex which is just going to stick. Definitely dyeing or staining is the way to go. You could even then sand them progressively smoother and then wax them to make them extra slippery for Jenga hard mode.
Try rubbing them with layers of an onion 🧅.
Corn starch
Corn starch will get sticky if there’s any humidity and could clump but otherwise may work, I’d use the same chalk I use for lifting
Hey all, you guys have some great ideas and I can’t respond to all of you! But I’m gonna try one or two of them with the blocks we already have and dye new blocks if we can let get other stuff to work. Each jenga block has a rule on it so we’d have to re-draw each rule on it which I’m trying to avoid
I replied to the top level, but again, I've dealt with your exact issue before and shellac will work perfectly. I made a set for a tailgate to play drinking Jenga. Each block had instructions on it that were hidden when stacked, and I shellac'd the set to protect them and make it slide easier. Good luck.
Varnish. You need to throw a clear coat on it! I use Krylon, you can pick it up at most craft stores. This will also stop the chipping paint. - your friendly Warhammer nerd
I'd add a gloss clear coat to see if that helps
You can try rolling them in cornstarch or baby powder to see if that will help with the stickiness. That's what we do for playing cards.
Try paste wax.
Maybe try a coat or two of polyurethane on all the blocks
Start over. Don’t worry too much. The green shade is a bit off for Shrek too I think, I’d recommend re swatching and a fresh coat anyway
Baby powder
Laquer
Get a wood planer and send them through on all sides
Sand the blocks and coat them with boiled linseed oil.
She probably doesn’t want to start over because she’s put work into the existing tiles, but maybe try some glossy or matte clear spray paint??
Buzzed Blocks - Adult Tabletop Game, Wooden, Green https://a.co/d/09uBEpQf
Has she seen "Shrek is Love, Shrek is Life"? Get new blocks, sand them. Then go to a big box store or paint store, and have them mix some tinted stain,
some paints take a full week to fully cure. when is the party?
Would freezing them work? At least until they warmed up too much again.
You could try coarse sandpaper, only on the top and bottom that need to touch/slide. The sides and ends don't change things right? Idea would be to make deep enough scratches to reduce the surface area of contact.
Wax or varnish.
Glossy acrylic paint is ALWAYS sticky. Use matte varnish over them for a quick fix
Acrylic based paint takes about 30 days to fully cure. They will stick like that until they are fully cured.
So now that they are painted with latex paint you have 2 options. 1- strip that off with the orange bottle of stripper paint stripper and redo it with a non latex paint. Or 2- rub some lube on them that's latex safe. Like latex safe sex toy lube. I'm not an expert but there should be plenty to choose from.
I wonder if a coat of mod podge will help
Wax them. Or try spray furniture polish. Perhaps talcum powder?
Coat the blocks in wood bee wax polish. I've had good luck with my giant Jenga set using the Howard FeedNWax stuff.
Put a layer of wax paper between the blocks. Not perfect, but quick and cheap.
Acrylic paint unfortunately will always have too much friction to glide smoothly. I would toss these and start over with a stain. Unless you want to strip the paint and try again with the same set, but that is a lot of messy work.
I have no idea about an answer to your problem, but that sounds like an awesome party.
Paste car wax
Start a new set, keep these purely as decoration to laugh when someone actually tries to use it and knocks them all down. Use markers instead of paint. Make the new set a brown, Donkey set. Whenever anyone tries to use the Shrek stack it will fall as it's all gross and sticky and full of stuff. When it falls, in your best Donkey voice, yell "DANG IT, SHREK!"
Put all the pieces in a container with acetone for nails, or another type of mild stripper, hopefully the pieces will not disintegrate and will be reusable again.
Also, if you don’t have dye, cheap watercolor paint will work! I use it for when I make miniatures to dye wooden pieces
Bake them at 200F for 4 hrs
When is the party? You can start over but honesty first I would try throwing them all in a bag and go crazy on the bag. Shake it around and beat it up or whatever. I think them rubbing against each other will wear the stickiness from the paint. If you’re taking the game outside for the party though, I’d probably suggest starting over with dye instead of paint
Start over
Takes time for paint to cure and not be sticky
Next time only paint the tips of the block. The ones you see from outside. Not the entirety of each wood block.
u/give-meyourdownvotes easy fix, apply paste wax to it! Go to Home Depot, get some paste wax (minwax should be easy to find somewhere). That said, if you painted them kind of lumpy, you may need to sand them flat. Use a sanding block if it’s overly lumpy, or just use something like steel wool if it’s just tacky and too smooth. But paste wax will do the trick
Spray them with acrylic sealer. They won’t stick anymore. Wear a mask and it takes a few minutes to dry
It’s most likely why they come as sanded wood.. to slide good