Chess board in brown oak, ash and black walnut

[craigmarshall]

Hi,

Here is a chess board I have been making over the last few weeks (15 mins here and there), finished today in the couple of spare hours I had. The only thing left is to put some black felt on the bottom.

The centre is brown oak and white ash, and the surround is black walnut.

It's not nearly as impressive (or big) as some of the things I see on here, but I'm really proud of it. It's the first thing I've made which I think "Hmm, that is nice".

I've also recently made a wooden bench (a seat, like a garden bench, but for the house) and a kingsize bed out of ash, but this is the first thing I'm really very happy with. That doesn't mean it's flawless though, several things went wrong, and there is much to improve next time!

Cheers,
Craig

 

[Dave S]

Certainly looks good to me!

Dave

 

[Fecn]

Looks good to me - The finish brings out the brown oak beautifully.

 

[craigmarshall]

Thanks.

The finish is oil and wax. Applied in about 10 minutes start to finish... (The oil dried very quickly).

Craig

 

[motownmartin]

I was thinking of making something like this with Black Walnut and Maple, how did you fix the edging and do yo think there will be any shrinkage or expansion with the squares,that is the only real concern for me.

Martin

 

[RogerM]

It's the first thing I've made which I think "Hmm, that is nice".

...... and you'd be right! Very nice. Love the contrast between the squares.

 

[RobertMP]

Got that look about it where you want to touch it an feel the smoothness

Pawn to Q4

Your move

 

[PowerTool]

Excellent piece,and great looking choice of timbers

Andrew

 

[craigmarshall]

I was thinking of making something like this with Black Walnut and Maple, how did you fix the edging and do yo think there will be any shrinkage or expansion with the squares,that is the only real concern for me.

Martin

I used thick cyanoacrylate (superglue) and activator for the black walnut edging, I don't know how well or for how long it will hold securely, but it seems extremely strong at the moment. If it fails at some point, I will use something like titebond. I was a bit impatient and wanted to get it finished.

I used quarter-sawn oak and very nearly quarter-sawn ash (> 60 degree growth rings), so movement should be minimised, The squares are 8mm thick, on 18mm plywood (which I had to flatten), so hopefully the ply should keep things flat and stable.

Cheers,
Craig

 

[craigmarshall]

Got that look about it where you want to touch it an feel the smoothness

Pawn to Q4

Your move

I don't really play... yet.. I know how each piece can move, and I understand checkmate and stalemate, but I've never had any serious games.

I need to gain some lathe skills some time and make some chess pieces. I think that will take considerably longer to do than the board though.

You're right, it is very smooth, it's sanded to 400 grit. I'm well chuffed with it

Craig

 

[craigmarshall]

Excellent piece,and great looking choice of timbers

Andrew

Thanks, though the timber choices was almost by accident, it was the result of going through the scrap pile and finding nice bits.

The plywood backing was from a sign for a local craft fair or something, that was in the workshop for recycling into jigs or similar. The black walnut was trimmed onsite from someone's kitchen worktop I believe, the ash was offcut from a bed I made a few weeks ago, and the brown oak was a sampler with oil finish that had been discarded for some reason.

Cheers,
Craig

 

[Shadowfax]

Craig
That is gorgeous. I love it! It's one of those "simple but effective" things. You could have gone OTT with the edging and spoilt the simplicity but what you have there is a thing of beauty.
Cracking job!

SF

 

[motownmartin]

Thanks Craig, i'm off to the woodyard today to see what i can find

Lovely job mate

Martin

 

[Paul Chapman]

Looks very nice, Craig.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[simuk]

Hello Craig thats a very nice board you have made , I like the contrast between the timbers.

Qd4 someones giving away there age 1.d4 f5 :wink:

Simon

 

[DomValente]

Very nice Craig, kinda gives you a warm feeling when something turns out right.

Dom