Making A Chess Board

[shaunfe]

Ok, may sound random, but I'm making a Chess Board for my Mothers 60th next month (left a little late I know).

I want to use hardwood so it's long lasting, so I was wondering if you could recommend a Very Dark coloured Hardwood and Light coloured Hardwood that may work? (would rather natural wood colours rather than wood stains, but open to suggestions).

I won't needs lots of it either, about 8, 2' x 1.25" strips, would anyone be able to reccomend the best places to buy?

Thanks all for your help,

 

[Racers]

Hi,

Walnut and sycamore, wenge and maple spring to mind.
Have a look on Ebay.
Brown oak and white oak might work as well.

Pete

 

[dannykaye]

Blackwood and Holly

 

[marcros]

i was going to suggest walnut and maple, but Pete beat me to it.

I would also have a look on ebay for these quantities- are you doing it from solid or veneer? Do you have any means of cutting it- if so, you may find that spindle blanks are a reasonable source of timber. You could always ask the seller if they could rip it down on the bacdsaw if not.

In summary, what Pete said...

 

[custard]

If you're not a particularly experienced woodworker you should avoid certain timbers, such as ebony or wenge, because they're brittle and it's therefore difficult to achieve clean edges without ultra sharp tools.

Stick to kinder woods, soft maple or sycamore for the light squares; mahogany, walnut, or even cherry for the dark squares. Also look for the straightest grained, most boring grain you can find, it's easier to work and won't distract from the geometric layout of the chess board.

 

[shaunfe]

Thankyou all for your quick replies,

Thinking Wenge and Maple, but will have to play around to make sure I'm capable of working the Wenge, otherwise Cherry may be the way to go.

Thinking solid at the moment,
Unfortunately my tooling is quite limited where I am at the moment....as in, Saw and old table I'm using as a work bench. (usually use dad's stash but won't be able to without giving away the secret before her birthday). May have to invest a little and expand my equipment.

Thanks again for your help, no doubt I'll have more questions to come

 

[disco_monkey79]

Good luck with your project.

Also a novice woodworker, I've found walnut to be pleasant to work with, and comes up quite dark with a couple of coats of danish oil. I made some salt-and-pepper pots for the other half, using maple and walnut, and the timbers look good together.

 

[marcros]

i would be tempted to nip into your dads place and make a quick long grain shooting board, and borrow a plane. That should get you a nice true gluing surface. You may also want a third timber to make a surround for the board and finish it off.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Make sure bottoms of her chess pieces aren't larger than your proposed squares.

 

[shaunfe]

Thank you all for your advice.

I fear I may have left out an important piece of information. It's not going to be a standard chess board, it will be a vertical wall chess board. (not allowed to post links, so google if interested)

So the surround will be a frame (which i'm cheating with and going to buy wood that's already carved to pattern I think).

To make the actual board, I was going to use a method I saw on youtube, (again not allowed to post links so on youtube search "Making a Chess Board the Quick&Easy Way" if interested) and trap the "shelves" between the lengths of wood to add strength.

Would anyone be able to recommend a good wood glue that is strong but allows movement while i'm setting the pieces and clamping them?

Your all very helpful, thank you, i'll upload some more detailed plans when i've finished drawing them up.

 

[Mr_P]

Cool idea, hope your Mother enjoys dusting.

Great way to display one my sets definitely on my to-do list when my skills improve. Think glass doors will be required though.