# My 1st chess set.



## ngeb528

After seeing the pens and wine stoppers I had made, a co-worker asked if I thought I could make a chess set for her brother. 

I decided to give it a try and this was the result.   I used Maple and Bubinga for the pieces and Oak for the board.

Made a lot of mistakes - but learned a lot so the next one should be easier (at least I hope so):wink:


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## alxe24

Pretty impressive. Congratulations on you efforts, it looks great


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## Jim15

That is a great looking set, nice work.


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## Glenn McCullough

nicely done, I like the shapes of the pieces, what did you use as a reference?


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## jackrichington

very nice clean lines on the pieces..modern looking , sleek


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## jyreene

That's pretty nice.  How hard do you think it would be to integrate the pieces box into the chess board with a set of hinges in the middle?  I only bring it up because the pieces remind me of some nice sets at the same market I got my Russian wood at in Moscow that opened up for piece storage and had a nice scroll Russian Crest in the lid.  Seems you could get a little niche market if you had some old family crest or coat of arms you could scroll saw on the inside of the lid.  Just my ramblings.


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## Billd62

That looks great, I always wanted to try one but have not seen any sets I liked. Maybe I'll try this design.

Bill


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## GaryMadore

That's BEAUTIFUL!

I've been dinkin' around with an eye to making a set and have managed to destroy a lot of otherwise rather promising practice pieces.

I'll put up a photo later, and you'll be able to see just how awesome your pieces are in comparison 

Wow

Cheers!

Gary


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## VisExp

Very nice work.


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## TellicoTurning

Nancy
That is fabulous... I have a chess set on my to-do list and it's almost to the top... I've wanted to do one for a while, but couldn't decide on a shape for the pieces... yours is perfect!

I don't see any mistakes, and probably no one else will, so don't tell, I won't ask:biggrin:


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## ngeb528

*Connecting the top and pieces box.*



jyreene said:


> That's pretty nice. How hard do you think it would be to integrate the pieces box into the chess board with a set of hinges in the middle? I only bring it up because the pieces remind me of some nice sets at the same market I got my Russian wood at in Moscow that opened up for piece storage and had a nice scroll Russian Crest in the lid. Seems you could get a little niche market if you had some old family crest or coat of arms you could scroll saw on the inside of the lid. Just my ramblings.


 
I actually did connect the pieces box using an 8" piano hinge.  I just took the picture that way to show the whole set before I connected the two.

I also made 2 separate boxes and CA glued them together and inset a rare earth magnet along the center bar to hold the two parts together.  Worked like a charm.

Thanks for the suggestions.  I might try some of them on the next one I make.


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## ngeb528

oobak said:


> nicely done, I like the shapes of the pieces, what did you use as a reference?


I actually designed them myself.  Everything I had looked at prior to starting required some hand-carving, which I don't do, so I had to come up with a way to do it all on the lathe.

Thanks for the kind words.


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## broitblat

Nice looking set, but where's the knight!? ;-)

I've been working through a set of stoppers in chess piece shapes, but I haven't come up with a knight, yet.

  -Barry


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## ngeb528

*missing knight*



broitblat said:


> Nice looking set, but where's the knight!? ;-)
> 
> I've been working through a set of stoppers in chess piece shapes, but I haven't come up with a knight, yet.
> 
> -Barry


 
I completely understand.  That was the piece I had the most trouble with.  Nothing seemed to look quite right.  I don't do any carving so I had to rely on what I could do on the lathe.

In the picture I've attached, it's 2nd from each end.

I'm still not completely "in love" with what I came up with but I had to make a decision to have it done in time for Christmas.

I'm still playing with ideas for my next set.

I'd love to see pics of your stoppers.

Nancy


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## GaryMadore

ngeb528 said:


> I'm still not completely "in love" with what I came up with but I had to make a decision to have it done in time for Christmas.
> 
> I'm still playing with ideas for my next set.



Nancy,

I have an article somehwere that details how to turn a knight using an "off-centre" turning technique.

*EDIT: I just got a PM, and I gave the wrong impression here. The "knight" article is part of series on making chess pieces in a woodworking magazine; I didn't write it.*

It's still not a "traditional" carved knight a-la Staunton, but it's unique and easily differentiated from the other pieces.

If you're interested, I'll PM you when I find it and we can work out photocopy/mail details that will not violate copyright laws (ahem, cough-cough)

Cheers!

Gary


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## sbell111

? ?


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## GaryMadore

sbell111 said:


> ? ?



Hey, that looks awfully familiar! 

Cheers!

Gary


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## JohnU

Great work!  I once made a board but then chickened out when it came to making the pieces.  Maybe someday... and I hope it looks as good as yours.


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## ngeb528

Thanks guys.  I'll have to see about trying that.

Thanks,
Nancy


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## arjudy

Very nicely done. I like the design of your chessmen, simple but elegant.


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## Ozzy

Great job. I plan on making one here in the near future and if it turns out half as nice as yours I'll be happy.


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## Dvoigt

I'm working on a design for a chess set of my own.  How long did it take you to make each peice.  I was estimating it would tak eme about 40 hours to complete one.

How large did you make the pieces.  I'm considering making the king about 4" tall and 2" in dia, and the pawn about 2" tall and 1" in dia.  I also plan on making a gaint set when I master it... with a king about 7" tall and 3.5" in dia... this would make the chess board be over 3 feet squre though.


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## Mather323

Wow, they will be very happy!


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## ngeb528

Dvoigt said:


> I'm working on a design for a chess set of my own. How long did it take you to make each peice. I was estimating it would tak eme about 40 hours to complete one.
> 
> How large did you make the pieces. I'm considering making the king about 4" tall and 2" in dia, and the pawn about 2" tall and 1" in dia. I also plan on making a gaint set when I master it... with a king about 7" tall and 3.5" in dia... this would make the chess board be over 3 feet squre though.


 
Be careful not to make them too big.  They have to fit on a playing board with room to spare so you don't knock them over when you're playing.

My pieces range from 2-3" tall but they are all around 3/4" around at the base.  The chess board I made had 1 1/4" squares.  When the pieces are all set up, there's good spacing around them.

Each piece took me less than an hour to make, obviously, I got faster the more I did but it ended up being about 45 min per piece at the end.  That's all the way through, inlcluding polishing.

I also drilled a 1-1 1/4" hole in the bottom, prior to turning.  I glued BB's into the bottom to weight the pieces down and cut suede disks to cover the hole at the bottom and protect the board from scratches.  You could use small lead fishing weights too but we had the BB's so that's what I used.  

The maple was a lot lighter that the bubinga wieght wise so I needed to do something. 

The hole also allowed me to mount the piece on a stopper mandrel so I had the piece supported well once I parted the top from the waste.
I drew the pieces out on graph paper so I had good measurements and used a caliper to make sure I was keeping diameters fairly even.


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## GaryMadore

Dvoigt said:


> I'm working on a design for a chess set of my own.  How long did it take you to make each peice.  I was estimating it would tak eme about 40 hours to complete one.
> 
> How large did you make the pieces.  I'm considering making the king about 4" tall and 2" in dia, and the pawn about 2" tall and 1" in dia.  I also plan on making a gaint set when I master it... with a king about 7" tall and 3.5" in dia... this would make the chess board be over 3 feet squre though.



If you mean 40 hours PER PIECE, you and I are in about the same ballpark. 

A suggestion regarding size, based on my experience: If you make a board and want to add a frame, and maybe even some nice banding around the squares, it can get *very* big *very* quickly. I made a prototype with 2 1/2" squares (to suit a 2"++ base on the largest pieces) and wanted a beveled edge on each square - which added another 1/4" to each sqaure. Then I added a frame, and in order for it to look proportionate it had to be 2 1/2" wide - another 5" added. So, I ended up with a 27" wide board... Not exactly something you can plunk on an end-table.

What I'm getting at, is that standard pieces will have a standard (or average) base diameter for a given height. Think about how big a board you want to end up with, calculate the size of your squares based on your design (frame, bevels, trim, borders, banding, etc) and this will tell you what size pieces to make. I personally wouldn't go any larger than 1/4" smaller than your square size, which will give you 1/8" clearance all-around your biggest piece.

In my case I am going to scale back to a 24" board. Taking 4" off for the frame, I'm left with 20". 20/8=2.5" per square. I really like the beveled look, so I lose another 1/4" per square, and I'm left with 2.25" per. Taking off another 1/4" for clearance, I have 2" max base diameter for my largest pieces. A classic Staunton style set with a 5" King has a 2" base on the large pieces, so this is my max (and coincidentally, my intended) size.

A 4" King usually has a 1 5/8" base, so I (with my bevels and frame) could get away with about a 19" board.

Based on my (likely faulty) calculations, you're looking at about a 28" board for a 7" King.

Cheers!

Gary


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## ngeb528

Thanks, Ozzy.

It's a "fun" project.  At points you absolutely love it and at other points you want to throw it out the nearest window.  The finished product makes it all worthwhile.

Nancy


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## Dvoigt

GaryMadore said:


> If you mean 40 hours PER PIECE, you and I are in about the same ballpark.
> 
> Based on my (likely faulty) calculations, you're looking at about a 28" board for a 7" King.
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> Gary




Ha! No, 40 hours for each SET... I would think 36" board for a 7" king... very regal... fit for a king.


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## ngeb528

Dvoigt said:


> Ha! No, 40 hours for each SET... I would think 36" board for a 7" king... very regal... fit for a king.


 
Suggestion - If you're going to make it that big, maybe put legs on the board and make it a table to can sit down at.

Nancy


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## bitshird

That is a beautiful Chess set, it's a project I've wanted to do since I made a board back in High school, I really like the modern design,and you choice of materials, I have no idea where that board I made went ,I last saw it about 45 years ago. It would be fun to do it again, if I could get any where close to the set you made.


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## moyehow

Nice work.  One of the next projects on my list.


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## avbill

Let me say a few words.

A Mike Darlow has a book out on making chess pieces. Some pretty cool pieces!.  PSI has a very small section saleing a chess board and set instructions.   

Your set is very contemporary looking.  and beautiful! so there!!


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## TellicoTurning

Nancy,
Did you weight the pieces at the base or are they just the wood bases... I keep thinking that they need a weight of some kind, but not sure how I'll incorporate that into the piece yet... I have a wood paperweight that has a hole drilled in the bottom, birdshot is poured into the hole and then a piece of felt glued over the hole... might work.


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## NewLondon88

ngeb528 said:


> Suggestion - If you're going to make it that big, maybe put legs on the board and make it a table to can sit down at.
> 
> Nancy



What woods would you suggest for the chairs? :tongue:

Seriously .. nice set. It's been in the back of my mind ,but it got lost
there with all the other accumulated junk..


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## ngeb528

ozmandus said:


> Nancy,
> Did you weight the pieces at the base or are they just the wood bases... I keep thinking that they need a weight of some kind, but not sure how I'll incorporate that into the piece yet... I have a wood paperweight that has a hole drilled in the bottom, birdshot is poured into the hole and then a piece of felt glued over the hole... might work.


 
I used bb's in wood glue.  Then covered the bottom with a piece of leather.  I thought the leather would protect the board and last a long time.  I used CA to glue the leather on.

I used a stopper mandrel to turn the pieces.  Since I needed to have a hole for the bb's, I just made it the size to fit the mandrel.  Made it nice and easy to turn the tops of the pieces.

The Bubinga didn't need as much weight as the maple did.


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## ngeb528

NewLondon88 said:


> What woods would you suggest for the chairs? :tongue:
> 
> Hmmm, I'm not sure what kind I'd use but I probably wouldn't use balsa...:wink:
> 
> Seriously .. nice set. It's been in the back of my mind ,but it got lost
> there with all the other accumulated junk..


 
You could try making a metal one. That seems right up your alley.

Thanks for the kind words.

Nancy


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## ngeb528

avbill said:


> Let me say a few words.
> 
> A Mike Darlow has a book out on making chess pieces. Some pretty cool pieces!. PSI has a very small section saleing a chess board and set instructions.
> 
> Your set is very contemporary looking. and beautiful! so there!!


 
Thank you.  I enjoyed designing the pieces (except the knight, that one still bothers me).  

It was a fun project, but I was also glad when it was done.


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## Seer

Nice job hope mine comes out as well as yours did.


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## NewLondon88

ngeb528 said:


> Thank you.  I enjoyed designing the pieces (except the knight, that one still bothers me).



I know what you mean about the knight.. that was one of the things that
held me back, trying to find a decent shape that would work on the lathe.
I recall seeing one somewhere online a while ago.. seems like it was turned
partly on an eccentric, so there was no chance of confusing it with the
queen or bishop. I'll see if I can find the link

http://www.shopsmithhandson.com/archives/nov_dec00/html/chess_2.htm


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## ngeb528

NewLondon88 said:


> I know what you mean about the knight.. that was one of the things that
> held me back, trying to find a decent shape that would work on the lathe.
> I recall seeing one somewhere online a while ago.. seems like it was turned
> partly on an eccentric, so there was no chance of confusing it with the
> queen or bishop. I'll see if I can find the link


 
Here's what I found, but I didn't really like it all that well (at least during the planning stage).  They talk about offsetting the top to turn the knight.

*[SIZE=+2]Hand-Turned Wooden Chess Pieces*[/SIZE]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Times NewRoman][SIZE=+1]A great money-making project for craft fairs and flea markets.
*Use you Browser’s “BACK” button to return to the article.[/SIZE][/FONT]*​




[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Times NewRoman]When you’re ready for the Knights, mount your stock on center (we don’t suggest trying the offset turning on your Lathe Duplicator) and first turn just the base and part of the head (see Figure 1). Then, set the head end of your stock 3/8-inch off-center (see Figure 2) on the tailstock end. Turn the neck of the Knight (see Figure 3). While the piece is still mounted off-center, sand the neck smooth.  

Move the Knight back on-center and finish turning the head, stopping just before cutting the piece free (see Figure 4). Now, sand the rest of the piece.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Times NewRoman]Continue . . .  [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Times NewRoman][/FONT]




















*[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Times NewRoman]View Patterns
[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Times NewRoman][SIZE=-2] 
*[/SIZE][/FONT]*[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Times NewRoman][SIZE=-2][/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Times NewRoman][/FONT]*[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Times NewRoman]King, Queen & Bishop[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Times NewRoman]
[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Times NewRoman]Knight[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Times NewRoman]
[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Times NewRoman]Rook & Pawn[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Times NewRoman][/FONT]​














Here's the link:
www.shopsmithhandson.com/archives/nov_dec00/html/money_... www.shopsmithhandson.com/archives/nov_dec00/html/money_maker.htm​


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## NewLondon88

LOL .. same thing I posted.. GMTA


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## ngeb528

LOL.  Guess I didn't finish reading your post.


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## CSue

ngeb528 said:


> Thank you.  I enjoyed designing the pieces (except the knight, that one still bothers me).
> 
> It was a fun project, but I was also glad when it was done.



Personally, I've always thought the "Knight" should have looked more like a knight than what the knight rode on (horse.)

The Knight pieces you've designed here, IMHO, are absolutely perfect!  The top looks like one of the helmets the people in our Renaissance Fair's wear.

Its really a beautiful set!


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## BigRob777

Wow, that's fantastic. I've been hoping to build one for years and now that I have loads of super exotic veneers, I hope to make that dream a reality. I'd like to make the squares with palm. I saw a love seat from palm when I was in Hawaii and it was amazing. I'd have to use something equally exotic and light in color for the opposite squares.
Rob


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## elody21

I have been gone for quite a while but I really love the chess set on the site. I started one 5 years ago and still have not finished! Alice          Elody21


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## workinforwood

Not much more to say...it looks really great!


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## Randy_

*http://www.pennstateind.com/library/ChessmenManual.pdf*

Nancy:  Above is a link to the instructions for the PSI chess set kit.  Included are some instructions for making a "horsey" kind of knight.  I didn't read through the instructions so I don't know if there is any carving involved; but maybe this PDF will give you some ideas.
 
Even if you are not a carver, maybe you can add a few details using a Dremel with a burr bit of the appropriate shape for what you want??


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## secord

I know this thread is over 4 years old but I just stumbled across it and thought that I could add a little to the last post that may help others.

   I am normally turning pens but have done a fair amount of scroll sawing in the past.  The last post had an attachment ChessmenManual.pdf that shows using a scroll saw to cut the Knight, on pages 3 and 4.  It is a lot easier and IMO better if you make copies of the Knight's head and attach them to the spindle head with an adhesive.  Then cut one face completely, does not matter which face.  Then use some tape to secure the piece(s) removed back onto the spindle stock.  Now saw the remaining face.  By reattaching the removed piece(s) the spindle head becomes more stable for the second cut.  You will not have to follow the instructions in the pdf to made the cuts 1 through 8 in the sequence shown.  You are down to 2 cuts non-stop.

   Below is a deer abut 2 1/2 inches tall that I made out of redwood scrap.



   I then made a Christmas decoration with 9 deer.


   The pattern that I used for the deer is shown below.


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## Janster

Congrats.....Very well executed! Merry Christmas to ONE and ALL!


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