Some dear friends were coming to the area for a visit with grandparents, along with their two young boys. The boys have taken up playing chess so the week before we were scheduled to see them, I decided to make a chess board. Nothing like adding the pressure of time to a project - started on Wednesday and finished on Saturday morning. I watched several YouTube videos and picked up some techniques that I attempted to incorporate.
I had a small board of maple (birdseye I believe) and walnut (of course!). No surprise that I was concerned about wood movement so I decided to use some maple plywood as the base (cut with my track saw - experienced a minor kickback so need to continue to refine my technique with that tool), with the top maple/walnut being a thinner section on top. I resawed the maple and walnut at the bandsaw. I'm getting better at resawing but still needed to spend some quality time at the drum sander to get the boards of consistent thickness.
Glued those up. Note - since doing it this way, I saw a video where "half" of the board was glued up and then it was resawed - end up with the same thing in the end but maybe better for the glueup??
I then needed to cut the sections. I was limited by the length of my maple board so this isn't "regulation" size (guess that is 2-2.5 inches). Each of the squares ended up 1.75 inches (only a bit "left over"). Glued the alternating boards together and to the plywood at the same time. Bit cold in the shop so did all the glueups in our living room.
Error here as I didn't get this squared up, so I had to pull out my track saw again to try to square up the board. This was a bit of a process, and I got very close, but not perfect.
The only maple I had of adequate length for the "frame" was hard maple left over from another project. This wood is REALLY hard and I made cuts in multiple bases to allow my saw to make the cuts. I had some walnut left over from the board I used for the squares so added that to the boarder.
I had some slight tearout on the plywood so added maple on the bottom to cover that (actually did this before the border/frame). As a result, my "frame" wasn't a match to the height but in the end I actually liked that the wood part of the chess board was proud of the frame as it shows off the walnut and maple.
I used dominos with the second "loose" setting as I anticipated issues with the miters. This proved true as, due to the slightly out of square, resulted in some difficulty with tight miters. LOT of time spent sneaking up on the final cuts. Ended up acceptable, but not perfect (I tried!). Given my tendency for overbuilding, I also decided to add walnut splines to the corners. In the end, I liked that added element visually as well as for strength. Trimmed those with my grandpa's spoke shave so, for once, I didn't gouge the sides when trimming the splines (I'm learning!).
Finished with Odie's Oil. Gave it to the family yesterday and I think they liked it! All I asked was for a picture of the boys playing a game of chess when they are back home. Should be a nice upgrade to their cardboard game board they were using.
Thanks guys! Having the top edge visible wasn't the original plan but thanks to the added pieces on the bottom to cover the plywood tearout, ended up this way. Glad it did as I like it this way too! Ever now and then a deviation from the plan ends up better.
It’s always the little eccentricities that make shop made projects so neat. Anyone can glue some boards together and make a checkered-board but something like what you did, although subtle, make it unlike what you’ll find mass produced. That edge effect and the matched splines make it a special thing to be sure!👍🏼
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
That's so encouraging Ryan. I tend to focus on my oops (e.g., there is a small chip in the one walnut square - didn't see it until I was done!), but am happy with the end product. Just received a text with the boys playing a game with smiles on their faces so that's really the desired outcome.
I watched a LOT of videos - Hess Woodworking was helpful. After I was done with mine, I watched this one while I was on my spin bike. Great video, very fancy design features, and loved the grandfather and grandson pics at the end!
Ron - thanks! At one point I considered wrapping the ply with just the thin walnut, but then decided to face cutting the hard maple for a better looking frame. Was worth the effort in the end.
Thanks Steve. I enjoy reading writeups so thought I should do the same.
Splintergroup- thanks! My designs typically include some aspects of "on the fly" - glad this one worked out. And, I've been doing finishing (and glueups when cold) in our living room for years. We never really use that room much so at least it has a positive purpose!
Corelz125- thanks! I was asked by another friend if these were all separate squares. He found it interesting the series of steps to get it all in place. Until watching videos, I think I would have had even more oops than I did.
