I've been playing chess my whole life and have been playing around with making boards recently. Finding it to be surprisingly satisfying.
I've seen a lot of chess players complain about warping of solid wood boards. People go to quite the extreme to stop this, storing them in climate controlled cases, etc.
It's gotten me to thinking: would a solid wood board be less likely to warp if was multiple layers thick? In other words. Are 3 1/4" glued strips more stable than a single 3/4" board?
Some makers claim putting a frame around the board stabilizes it, and keeps it flat. This goes against my knowledge and understanding of how wood works. Putting a mitered frame around a solid board sounds like it's inviting the frame to be pushed apart? Maybe I'm missing something there...
I also wonder about shipping something like that. I assume board sellers aren't shipping items across the country that they know are warped. I'm guessing something happens in transit and then a warped board is the result. Everything I make and sell is local, so I do ponder the requirements for shipping something like this across the country. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap? Brace it in a plywood box?
Thanks for any insight.