The Traditional Chess Set
This traditional chess set was reproduced for Joyce to gift to her son and grandkids. She choose the wood species from what I had available on hand. She Loved the set I made for myself and saw the perfect gift for her family. My directions were to make it regulation size and weight. The chess board squares are 2 1/4 inches. the King’s height is 4 inches with the rest of the pieces proportional. I also have a modern style chess set designed and half done.
This traditional chess set was created from Post Oak and Cedar harvested from my very own yard and taken to a local saw mill to be sliced. The trees were dead and needed to be removed for safety reasons. So instead of letting such good wood go to waste… I made my second traditional style Chess set. The process began with cutting the larger planks into pieces for the lathe. Then the 4 week process of turning each piece. I made a cheat sheet with measurements for each dimension of the pieces so that they would similar enough to each other that their differences gave character to the pieces. Once the pieces were complete I set off to make the board. The thing about Post Oak is that the wood dries so that voids are created below the surface. It made finding pieces to use in making the board difficult. I sawed, milled, and planed 3 times as much Oak as I did Cedar just to find boards with out voids. After that slicing up the wood and gluing them together was a lot easier with my new parallel clamps bought just for this project. I learned a lot from my board glue up the first time, I spent days sanding it flat. Luckily the new clamps made sanding smooth a trivial matter. While making and sanding the board, I applied several coats of Shellac to the pieces and rigged my own dust proof area for them to dry. The Shellac really bought out the grain in the pieces and gave them a highly glossily shine. Shellac is also none toxic once it fully cures and knowing that kids would be regularly playing with the pieces, I wanted them to be safe, even if one found itself in a mouth.
I completed working on a Chess set for my self. I have the pieces completed and the board made, However, I plan to make my set into a table with drawers to store the pieces. With all the new projects coming in… It may be a while before I get to finish. Below I added a few pictures for my set and some pictures of what the modern set’s pieces look like.
I am happy to build you a Chess set to just about any size you want with what ever wood species tickles your fancy. I really like the intricate work and attention to detail required to craft the chess pieces and they each reflect that enjoyment. Never rushed.
