Chess board

Finally finished up a chess board for my son. This was a bit of a C-19 project, using just what materials I had on hand.

The squares are individually cut from redwood and elm burl veneer (well, I think it’s elm, but can’t really remember what I ordered way back when). Substrate is mdf. The boarder is cherry and there’s a small pear wood inlay around the border of the squares. As I’m sure you’ve guessed, the inlay makes up for any minor gaps that occurred when the cherry border was glued in place. I chamfered the bottom edge to make it easy to pick up. Sealed with shellac and finished with ArmRSeal.

It was a nice sort of stay at home project, with 64 veneer squares to individually true up to fit. I’ll admit, by about square #40, I was ready to end that part of it.

Thinking about insetting picture hangers on the back so it can hang on the wall when not in use...not sure yet. Once it was made I kind of wondered what you do with it when not in use. I’ll see what my son thinks and go from there. I suppose I could also treat it as a table top and make a base for it at some point.

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Nicely done Phil! I have enjoyed playing chess in the past, 50 years ago I passed the time in study class playing chess. Time to pull out the board!

Nice work with the contrasting burl woods. Would look nice on the wall. Thanks for sharing.

Way to make a difficult game even more complicated. Kudos!

Really like those colors. I must admit that I could not figure out where the project was going in the earlier post. I think
I didn't recognize the tape.

Looks great. You did a good job on that board.

Mike

Thanks for the kind comments. Waiting for the ArmRSeal to fully cure, then buff it out. Might just have to buy a set of checkers to break it in before it gets handed off to my son.

Well done – thanks for sharing! Definitely an inspiration.

A nicely executed and very useful project!