Chessboard

[Chip Olson]

I haven't been around here much lately, but I thought I'd post a recent project that I'm fairly happy with.

I built this chessboard for a benefit auction for a band/performance troupe some friends of mine are involved in. The squares are cherry and maple; the border is maple and purpleheart. The purpleheart didn't stay purple, but I think I like it better this way. Finished with wipe-on poly over BLO.

The piece ended up in a bidding war and went for $130. :-)

[Lee Schierer]

It sure looks nice. Have you made one like this before? Congratulations on the nice selling price.

[Jim Becker]

Great work, Chip!

[Larry Fox]

Very nice work Chip. I like the combination of woods (cherry and maple is one of my favorite combinations). Are the squares solid wood or veneer? If the later, can you talk a little about the build process?

[Jim Tobias]

Chip,
That is a very nice looking chess board! I would think they got a real bargain for $130.

Jim

[Chip Olson]

Thanks for the kind words. To answer some questions, the board is all solid wood, constructed by gluing up alternating strips of cherry and maple, cutting the resulting panel crosswise into strips, flipping every other strip end for end and regluing. I ended up with a couple of strips left over from the second glue-up, and I ended up splicing in one of those when I cut one side down too small while trimming the edges. That's why one row has the grain going the wrong way.

The cherry turned out lighter than I thought it would, and I had been thinking that I should have used the purpleheart for the "black" squares. On further reflection, I like the interplay of the grain, and you can still tell white squares from black, which is all that matters.

This id the first time I'd made one of these. The one thing I'm concerned about is seasonal movement; I thought about it too late to build it as frame and panel.

[Carl Fox]

I saw a similar build process on Woodworks. When I saw it I had to do a dope-slap.

[Jake Helmboldt]

I keep trying to visualize the regluing of the strips. I realize how you get the alternating "checkerboard" effect by flipping the glued-up strips end-for-end. But at some point in the process don't you end up gluing short grain to short grain? And won't that present a problem with a strong glue joint?