I am going to make a chessboard for my grandkids who live in Hawaii and I live in Arizona. I made one previously that I put a strip of edging around the perimeter and expansion made it separate along the end grain side. Is there a best way to do it? Should I alternate the grain pattern? Use a dado and biscuits? Open to suggestions. Thanks!
Steiny
I've made several boards. glue up dark and light wood in alternating strips like a bread board then cut them apart and reglue to make the board. No border, biscuits, or dados are necessary. gluing up individual squares is much harder and prone to error. If you glue up in sections you can run them through a planer before the final glueup.
For my boards, I use a floating frame to allow for the wood movement. I use a slotted hard wood spline with no glue or loose tenons with no glue.
Hello Steiny, welcome!
A loose, floating frame would be a good choice. Here’s a photo of a 3D chessboard I made a couple of years ago. It was also going to a different climate zone so I wanted something to help hold it together through any possible movement but I wanted a really clean, modern look for this one so I opted not to add a visible frame. I also decided it looked overly chunky from the side and I thought it’d look better if it “floated” a bit above the table so I added a 1/2” thick solid base under it that was 3/4” smaller than the chessboard on all sides. I painted the edges of the base board flat black so it couldn't be seen at all. I drilled countersunk, slightly oversized holes in the base board that would be centered on each of the squares in the perimeter of chessboard and inserted screws that could move around a bit in those holes if things expanded or contracted. I applied a layer of black felt to the bottom to make a nice, soft base and hide the screws. By all reports the chessboard’s still in one solid piece.
![Image]()
Weirdly, I can’t find any photos that really show the base or how the chessboard looks from the side (it just looked cooler from the top so I guess I didn’t bother), but if you zoom in you can see how the sides kind of float above the countertop it’s sitting on.
Jack
A loose, floating frame would be a good choice. Here’s a photo of a 3D chessboard I made a couple of years ago. It was also going to a different climate zone so I wanted something to help hold it together through any possible movement but I wanted a really clean, modern look for this one so I opted not to add a visible frame. I also decided it looked overly chunky from the side and I thought it’d look better if it “floated” a bit above the table so I added a 1/2” thick solid base under it that was 3/4” smaller than the chessboard on all sides. I painted the edges of the base board flat black so it couldn't be seen at all. I drilled countersunk, slightly oversized holes in the base board that would be centered on each of the squares in the perimeter of chessboard and inserted screws that could move around a bit in those holes if things expanded or contracted. I applied a layer of black felt to the bottom to make a nice, soft base and hide the screws. By all reports the chessboard’s still in one solid piece.
Weirdly, I can’t find any photos that really show the base or how the chessboard looks from the side (it just looked cooler from the top so I guess I didn’t bother), but if you zoom in you can see how the sides kind of float above the countertop it’s sitting on.
Jack
A board made of veneer squares could be edged in solid wood with no issues. I think that's your best bet.
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