Chess table

[Sheffield Tony]

I have been asked to refresh a chess table by FIL.

It has a round top with a chessboard set inside foor bordering peices. The chessboard was once composed of blocks of wood of two different colours, which unfortunately with the passage of may years have faded to almost the same colour ! The squares are separated by grooves which should make re-coloring them easier.

My thinking it that I don't want to disturb the finish of the top outside of the board area, or I'll have to do the whole table to make it match. But to stain (or bleach) the squares the finish, whatever it is, will have to come off. I'm thinking of clamping MDF for protection over the "margin" parts of the top, and using a card scraper to clean the board itself back to wood, then staining and / or bleaching the squares, followed by re-finishing just the chessboard area. I'm hoping the grooves will be my friend here to keep the edges crisp.

Does that sound likely to work, or hopelessly optimistic ? Photo needed ?

 

[skeetstar]

Process sounds fine.. Time will tell. But if you are staining half the squares, remember to stain the right ones.. Chess boards are handed,

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Ah yes, I worried a bit about that one, thinking I'd have to take care to get it right after I'd scraped the old finish off ... until I realised the top is round, and rotating the table 90 degrees sorts it out if I get it wrong ! I don't think there is anything else asymmetric to catch me out.

Thanks for the input. I really must get round to that job.