Chessboard Construction

[Tom Watson]

Regards,

Tom Watson

[sam]

[Leon]

[Bob La Londe]

My uncle is an accomplished cabinet builder. He once showed me his first chessboard. He laughed at himself over it He tongue and groove cut each and every square then bound them in a frame that formed a box lid. The frame was also tongue and grooved to mate the outer edge of the pieces. I thought it was pretty cool, but when he asked me if I wanted to make one we just cut strips and glued them like you did. Then he told the methods he used for his original was a a total waste of time. With modern wood glues and a decent frame there was absolutely no reason to go to all that effort other than perhaps as a personal challenge. We then went on and made backgammon boards. Now that was a fun exercise in jig making.

Anyway, I very much like your series of images on making chess boards.

[Sonny]

I made my first, and only, chess board when I was a teen. Not knowing any better (self taught) and no plans or knowledge of this sort of construction to guide me, I made and glued individual squares together, then framed them. I'd never do that today, of course, but it turned out pretty good considering my "talent" (?). I still have it.... the chess board! The talent may still be in question.

Sonny

[Ed Pawlowski]

I'm not sure I have the talent for a chess board. I'm thinking of starting with a checkers board first.

[Woody]

in the frame?

What woods did you use?

Any concerns about movement using solid wood? If not, why would anyone go through the bother of veneering a chessboard if they weren't using exotics?

~Mark.

[Larry Jaques]

On Sun, 6 Dec 2009 14:13:27 -0500, the infamous "Ed Pawlowski" scrawled the following:

-- To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive. -- Robert Louis Stevenson