Chess Board Question

[Jerry - OHIO]

I milled some oak and pine down to 3/8 "to make the squares for a chess board. Can I glue them to a sheet of 1/4" plywood or will the pine & oak split & buckle ?

Jerry

[randyswoodshoop]

the wood you are using has dried well. I made one a couple of years ago from maple and walnut and have not hada problem with it.

Randy htt://nokeswoodworks.com

[Jerry - OHIO]

Thanks for the imfo ,this is a birthday gift for my grand daughter and I wanted it to turn out nice and not fall apart.

Jerry

[Lew Hodgett]

Just curious.

Are you planning on cutting inndividual blocks and them gluing them or will you be gluing up alternate color stips (8 strips), then cutting and assembling?

Lew

[EXT]

If you alternate the grain of the squares, you "may" not have a problem. Keeping the grain in one direction will cause the water based glue to warp the plywood as it dries. It is always better, in any case, to duplicate the face treatment exactly on the back to prevent this occurring, which can happen at any time due to humidity changes. This will keep the tension equal on both sides, increasing the stability of the finished product.

[Tom Watson]

between the oak and the pine. Also, when you glue these to the comparatively rigid substrate you describe there could be a problem. It also sounds like you are intending to lay down individual blocks, which is liable to be difficult.

I make chessboards by gluing up 3/4" thick laminations that have veneer thickness face wood on top and bottom, like plywood.

On the board shown in the attached link, the ply was ripped to about 2

1/4" and then alternating strips were splined together, as you would do when making a cutting board. Once these are glued up, the resulting board can be crosscut to the same width as the individual strips and your work is much reduced.

The resulting board is then trimmed square and can be banded. The piece shown has mitered banding and has not shown any cracks, although it has been in conditioned space since it was made.

construction is the key to making these sorts of things.

HTH

Regards,

Tom

Thos.J.Watson - Cabinetmaker tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet