So, the first thing to do, it occurred to me, was to get more information. Best wood for turning chess pieces game, how do you design and execute pieces for a game about which you know very little? My vote would be for Maple and Walnut. In the Staunton set he is shown wearing a mitered hat. Stain or cness. My skew chisels were too wide to fit down in the narrow coves and grooves of the pieces. The grain is normally straight, but may occasionally be wavy.

There you will see loubalch has a board pattern like this. The file is available free for anyone wishing to reproduce for resale. My favorite to actually play on has always been the cloth-backed vinyl roll-up kind. They're cheap and you've got no worries about scrapes and dings. When finished playing, just roll it up and put it back in the tube. Because of the cloth backing, it flattens right out when you throw it on a table. I have three boards that I like: maple-mahogany, maple-erable stained blue, no gloss , and maple-walnut.

I love all my boards equally, when I'm using them, but I like my blue board and my maple-walnut boards the most. I find that walnut, in particular, looks gorgeous! Nathan, a pictures worth a thousand words.

Three pics, please. I love looking at nice chess boards. Sure, loubalch! I love looking at nice chess sets and boards, too. I liked the pictures you posted the other day on the square size thread. I will post my sets tomorrow it's getting a bit late now. A few caveats: I don't have a really good set yet to match my blue board; and the maple-mahogany board is an HOS entry-level one but I still like it. All of my boards are just veneer boards, and are not expensive Ok, loubalch, here you are:.

Above: House of Staunton Players 3. For various reasons, I am not altogether happy with this board. I feel that the walnut veneer is too thin, and the colour of it looks faded--especially on the first and eighth ranks, although that is difficult to see in this image. I am likely going to pair this set with a slightly smaller board, which I do not yet have. Kindly excluse the clutter.

Next, a set with a 3. And last, my 3" king set of Windsor "laughing knight" pieces from Cool Chess Canada on a Rechapados Ferrer maple-walnut board. You can see that the board is much better than the HOS one above, although the brown isn't quite as dark as it could be. It's a small set, and not expensive, but I really love it:. So, which one is my favourite? Well, I like them all, but I like my two Rechapados Ferrer boards--both the maple-walnut and the maple-erable--the most.

I have a couple of those HoS veneer boards, they're okay, but I much prefer your Rechapados Ferrer boards. They really look nice. I like your blue board as well.

What's your beef with the knights from this set, I can't get a good look from the picture above. How about a close up. Sep 19, 1. Sep 19, 2. Sep 20, 3. Eyechess: Is Paudauk is the same as Bud Rosewood? Dalbergia is the genus that generally denotes all Rosewood species worldwide, but most chess piece wood is indigenous to India.

It is found in the dry deciduous forest throughout the Indian peninsula. It grows in the sub-Himalayan tract from Oudah eastwards to Sikkim, Bihar, Orissa, and throughout central and southern India. Optimum growing conditions for this species are reported to be in the Bombay. The wood is supposed to be fairly difficult to carve and work by hand, which says a great deal for the skill of chess piece craftsman.

The color range of this wood goes from a rose to dark brown color with even darker lines. The darker streaks impart an attractive figure to the wood. The crossed, narrowly interlocked grain, with the combinations of darker streaks gives the wood a very attractive appearance.

This wood, with proper preparation, also has excellent finishing and polishing characteristics. The Ebony used most for chess pieces, comes from a tree scientifically known as Diospyros melanoxylon , commonly known as East Indian Ebony, Marblewood and Tendu, to name a few.

The species is common in the deciduous forests of the Central providences, Chota Nagpur, Behur, southern India, and the whole Indian Peninsula. The heartwood, which is part of the tree most commonly used, is a deep and slightly grained black in respect to its color. It is more brittle than the sapwood. The grain is commonly straight, sometimes irregular. The texture of the wood is fine and even. The black heartwood is very resistant to decay, so the longevity of this wood is excellent.

This wood exhibits excellent finishing and Best Wood For Turning Chess Pieces Tab polishing characteristics. Once again, this is a tough wood to carve, but chess piece craftsman are very familiar with the problems and are masters at working this hardwood with hand tools. The deep luster and total blackness of the blocks make for exceptional, true black chess pieces.

Ebony is one of the traditional woods used in chess pieces. Being the same species as Cardinal Rosewood Dalbergia latifolia , Crimson Rosewood is harvested from only the roots of the tree. The unique color of this type of rosewood is of a wine burgundy. Optimum growing conditions for this species are reported to be in the Bombay region. The image shows a wonderfully carved knight by The Mark of Westminster , who use this wine colored, select wood exclusively for its Crimson Rosewood pieces.

Probably the most commonly used wood for chessboards is Walnut , usually European Walnut Juglans regia. European walnut is believed to have been introduced to Italy and western Europe in general, and possibly to Britain, by the Romans from Asia Minor. Most of the trees in Britain are reported to be planted in gardens, and occasionally along hedgerows. European walnut is reported to be very limited in availability, and can be obtained only in the form of veneer. The heartwood varies in color but it typically has a grayish-brown background with irregular dark streaks.

The grain is normally straight, but may occasionally be wavy. European walnut wood has high natural durabilty. Polishing is reported to be excellent. The wood is reported to have excellent staining qualities, but UV light inhibitors are essential in finishes to prevent color from bleaching. Some of our manufactures also use North American relatives to this species, such as Black Walnut Juglans nigra , which has a darker color.

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