I have never had anything but a cheap cardboard chessboard until I made this (and another for my son) from walnut and maple salvaged from the lumber yard's cut-off pile.
Looks Good.
I have been discussing building something similar with my 13 year old grand son who was just given an "antique" chess set. I hope to involve him in designing it using Sketchup and then building it when he visits next summer.
I like your raised playing surface. How did you arrange the drawer….open space or partitions?
Les,
The drawers have partitions for the individual pieces, and I made just enough space at the end for a set of checkers as well. The plan was reprinted by Woodworkers Journal, Summer 2011 in a volume of Small Box Projects, pp. 32-40. The chessboards turned out to be a bit more work than I had originally anticipated, as some other Lumberjocks have noted.
Thanks, I take WWJ and will look for it. The top has to be similar to putting together a end grain cutting board and I have done several of those. A drum sander helps smooth and level everything.
I may even get my grandson into wood working with this project. His Dad was not interested at that age and still isn't. Someone needs to inherit my tool collection. LOL