Chessnut

Yes, I’ve done prototype chessmen and are very close now to being finally being happy with them. I’m going to do a full blown set out of African Black wood and maybe Quilted Maple. I can honestly say each piece gets faster. I turn off the corners so that it’s round but not final diameter then take a pencil and while its turning, mark out in rings where the curves will be and how tall the piece will be. I just use 3” face plates for all my pieces. For the knights, some people carve it out separately and then glue it to a base turned separately as well. I myself like to have 1 piece so that the woodgrain matches. I’ve never carved before and my first knight turned out surprisingly well, try on a scrap piece of maple, just use small chisels and small rifling files and glue the workpiece onto a substrate and mount it in a vise. I just turn the base then take it off the lathe and clamp the 3” faceplate into the vise. It helps if you screw on a piece of scrap wood onto the faceplate first and turn it round slightly wider than the faceplate before gluing the workpiece on, that way that extra wood will grip in the vise and won’t move while trying to carve.
I don’t have pics on computer yet but I can in the future if you want. The best thing is to visit a site like House of Staunton where they have very nice chess piece designs to give you an idea, also Chess Baron even gives height and base diameters on each piece under the luxury chess sets in some of their photos which will give you a huge start. I also weighted my pieces with lead from a local tire shop. I got those wheel weights off of the rims and melted them down and drilled and poured them into the bases of each piece, make sure you thread in a screw before you pour so the lead won’t fall back out on you. Ensure it’s a stainless steel screw at the hardware store or the lead will corrode a regular screw and fall out. Then just finish off the bottoms with either felt or leather and put your finish on each piece and you’re done! I used gasket cork material 1/16 with a sticky back on the bottoms of my prototypes which also seem very durable and slide better than leather on the board. Specific gravity for maple and walnut are almost the same, in my case the ebony is almost twice as dense so I would have to put more lead into the maple so their weight with one another is more consistent. One can also go to a print shop with laser technology and bring a template of a design that can be lasered into the leather of your choice to personalize it for that extra added touch. I hope that helps.

-- Mike, Airdrie Alberta

Welcome to LumberJocks. Enjoy the community

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

Welcome to LJ. You will like it here.

-- Maplewood, MN

Welcome to LJs, Chessnut. I am sure you will find this to be an interesting and exciting element of your woodworking adventure. I look forward to seeing posts of your work.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Welcome to the wonderful world of LJ’s (Enjoy) Come on in, The water’s fine, fine, fine.
You can ask, show, teach, learn, and Share woodworking experiences.
There’s something here for anyone that likes working with wood.
Plus new friends
God bless

-- Gene, a Christian in Virginia

Glad to see that you have made Lumberjocks a part of your Woodworking experience… Welcome…

-- Max "Desperado", Salt Lake City, UT

Welcome to LumberJocks! Enjoy yourself.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Hi there all, this does seem like a nice group of online woodworkers! I would like to know what all I need to start veneering chessboards, I was going to place an order tomorrow and thoguh’t you all might have some do’s and dont’s on this. I’m going to go the cold pressed glue method with lots of weight as my boards are a little too big to fit without blowing out the seams of a vacuum bag. I have sandpaper and finishing products, I just need to know which tools would be the easiest to use for this application thx.

-- Mike, Airdrie Alberta

Hi there all, does anyone familiar with the procedure how to flatten out wrinkled veneer with misting water? I live in Alberta where it is extremely dry and quite a few of my flitches of veneer warps pretty bad even overnight.

-- Mike, Airdrie Alberta

Welcome to LumberJocks. Glad to have you aboard.

I’ve got a blog on Veneering Chessboards . you might find it interesting.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com