My first and I think my last chest board.

[Bill Huber]

That is Chess Board...... That will teach me to set here and watch Norm make a chest of drawers on NYW.

I still have to do some finishing work, a few more layer of poly but out side of that its done.

The base board is 1/2 MDF then the 1 3/4 x 1 3/4 x 1/2 inch squares are glued to it. Then the walnut trim and a strip of maple that sticks out 1/8 inch. This gives a little edge to help when picking it up plus add some detail to the overall look of the board, I think.

I guess the thing I didn't like was the glue up of the squares, getting them to line up just right and then not moving when I clamped it. The first glue up was not bad, it was when I put the strips on the MDF and had to get them to line up just right with the next one.
My bad corner came out just fine thanks to everyone on the help with that little problem. This is not it, I should have taken a shot of it and I may to that later and add it to the post.

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The bad miter, it came out looking very well, I just used the Titebond and walnet dust. There is still more of a line there then on the other corners but its not that bad at all.

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[John Karam]

Very nice, it turned out great! I remember doing a cutting board in a checker board pattern once, indeed it was a pain to line everything up perfectly.

[Jim Becker]

Beautiful chess board!

[Brian Weick]

Now all you have to do is make the pieces ~ do you plan on making them? - one more question , Do you play chess Bill? I am an avid fan of the game and love to play! Very nice work! :D
Brian

[Doug Shepard]

Well I can see why you dont want to do another:rolleyes: . That's truly awful;) . Send it to me and I'll hide it for you.:D

[Howard Acheson]

Looks very nice but you may be in for some problems down the road. You are likely to have warpage and/or splits and glue line damage. Your method of construction flies in the face of wood movement. The solid wood squares will want to expand and contract with changes in relative humidity while the composition board will not. This means that the board will warp. The border pieces will also tend to try to restrict the movement of the solid blocks and the miters will open up.

If you want to do this again, use veneer no thicker than 1/8" thick. That's the maximum thickness that will not cause problems. 1/16" is better.

If you keep in in a room with constant relative humidity, you may be OK.

[Bill Huber]

Now all you have to do is make the pieces ~ do you plan on making them? - one more question , Do you play chess Bill? I am an avid fan of the game and love to play! Very nice work! :D
Brian

I am not going to make the pieces, I don't have a lathe and I have never done any turning. I can play but I am not very good this is for my son, he plays a lot, most of the time on the computer with Chess Master.

I would like to make the pieces and maybe in the future if I ever get a small lathe I may just have to try.

I may try a Backgammon board at some point in the future, now that is my game. I guess a Backgammon board would really be a challenge

[Bill Huber]

Well I can see why you dont want to do another:rolleyes: . That's truly awful;) . Send it to me and I'll hide it for you.:D


Well my son may have something to say about that .....:D

[Bill Huber]

Looks very nice but you may be in for some problems down the road. You are likely to have warpage and/or splits and glue line damage. Your method of construction flies in the face of wood movement. The solid wood squares will want to expand and contract with changes in relative humidity while the composition board will not. This means that the board will warp. The border pieces will also tend to try to restrict the movement of the solid blocks and the miters will open up.

If you want to do this again, use veneer no thicker than 1/8" thick. That's the maximum thickness that will not cause problems. 1/16" is better.

If you keep in in a room with constant relative humidity, you may be OK.


Thats the things that I don't think about at this point in woodworking, I really think I need to do more thinking about things like that.
I hope if I seal it really good with poly. 4 coats I hope that will help. It will be in an some what stable environment of his house and I hope that helps.

Thanks for the input and I really need to state thinking about putting different woods together and not just thinking of the look.

[Grant Morris]

I just stumbled across this on youtube. I'm sure it will help anyone interested in making a chess board. It is the easy way to do it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUKPs7lrucQ