Making Chess Boards

[Eric Schniewind]

Hello Creekers - I had a crazy idea and thought I would just put it out there. My daughter goes to a fabulous young Charter school here in Portland OR that is underfunded (www.portlandvillageschool.org). In the spring we have an auction to raise funds.

It's a Waldorf based curriculum which among many other things means they like things made of wood!

I thought I might try and make some chess boards for the auction. I'm making my first one right now but I'm not that great of a woodworker (e.g. miters that don't meet perfectly, poor choice in the darker wood, slightly out of square (hmmm....related to miter problem?), etc.). Plus I don't have a lot of spare time.

It might be asking too much, but perhaps a few or couple or one of you might feel inspired to throw a chess board together? I can offer to put the finish coat on it.

Thanks for reading this and let me just pass on one little thing I learned. Don't take your 7 year old daughter to the lumber yard when you don't know exactly what you want. Somehow I walked out the door with a Phillipine Mahogany board that I knew wasn't right and it isn't, but I couldn't take any more whining "can we go now"s.

Eric

[Lee Schierer]

Eric, take a look at the most recent edition of "WOOD" magazine. They show how to make contrasting color end grain cutting boards. Making a chess board should be very similar. Good luck with your fund raiser.

Another idea might be keepsake boxes from crown molding. They are relatively simple to make.

[Von Bickley]

Eric,

We have a member at SMC that builds beautiful chess boards. You may want to look at some of his work to get some ideas.

Check out David DeCristoforo's web site for some inspiration at:
http://www.daviddecristoforo.com

[Kevin Gregoire]

i wish i were a little more skilled at making some fine wood items cause i would donate a few things to a good cause in a heartbeat and just i hope others will do it if they can.