Working on a chessboard

[John Hart]

Well I decided to make a chessboard for my Dad. He's never had a nice one. So here we go.
I envisioned a rotating board so two people could sit side by side at a bar and still play from their perspective.
The board is maple and walnut with a cherry platform.
Work in progress. Probably get it done in the next week or so. 401861
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[Dave Fritz]

That sounds like a great idea. Anxious to see it when it's done.

[Roger Chandler]

Will you also be turning chess pieces John? That is a nice looking board! Neat concept. There appears to be sanding scratches on that cherry base in the pics.......might want to take care of those before final assembly ;)

[John Hart]

Thanks guys :)....
Hey Roger...No, I'm not going to be turning the pieces. I originally thought I would but just ran out of time. Found some very nice pieces on the internet though.
Oh...on the scratches....yup...already fixed that. Took that picture prior to final sanding. oops :)

[William C Rogers]

John, nice work

side note: I have made several of the cheese and cracker boards you did some time ago. Thanks for letting me use that idea and they make great gifts.

[David DeCristoforo]

Some years ago, I was involved in making "high end" chessboards. I made probably several hundred over time and tried a number of different methods. Started with laminated boards but I really wanted to make solid wood boards. The big problem I ran into was the massive amount of end grain gluing which simply did not hold up over time. Eventually the end grain glue lines would fail, sometimes drastically. After many experiments, I came up with a way to prevent this by using a glue joint cutter for all the joints in the boards. It worked out really well. I still have one board that I kept and after over ten years, it is still tight and smooth. Here is a pic to clarify:
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Here's a pic of one of the boards (purpleheart and curly maple):
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And a detail shot:
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The field of squares "floats" in the frame on a spline which allows the whole thing to expand and contract without stressing any joints.

I realize you have already made your board but if you make another, this might come in handy.

[Mel Fulks]

Love those colors and the wide eased border.

[David DeCristoforo]

I made a lot of boards using rosewood and walnut for the dark squares. But the purpleheart was very well liked because the black and white pieces stood out so well on them.

[John Hart]

I did actually think about buying the glue joint cutter, but said nahhhh...What could go wrong?
Now I know. Thanks David :)

William...imitation is the greatest compliment...thanks for taking that idea and running with it!!

[John Hart]

Got some shop time in today. Made some progress. I used an old hard drive to serve as the turn table. Wow that thing spins nice. Quiet and perfect.
Turned a little bowl to hide the workings.
Slathered it in BLO. I'll give that a week to cure then finish with WOP.
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