We had this very discussion in a thread a number of days ago:
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/inexpensive-chess-piece-storage
Ideas for Cheap Storage Solution
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Awesome. I'm looking at some of the Plano boxes as you recommended. Can you specify which one would be idea of a 3.75" king set? This is exactly what I was hoping for.
I have two 3.75" sets (Best Chessmen Ever, HOS Players Series), one 3.6" set(Noj Dubrovnik II) and one 3.5" set (HOS York Series). I have them all stored in the Plano 3700 boxes.
http://www.planomolding.com/product.php?PID=949
I have a HOS Proline Series Set and a HOS Morphy Series 4.0" set stored in what looks like this box:
http://www.planomolding.com/product.php?BCCID=138&PID=736
The bigger sets were "boxed" a number of years ago, but that box looks the same as the two I have.
I just recently found the 3700 boxes at the local Dick's Sporting Goods store.
Once again, I got the foam at JoAnn Fabrics. It is white and in a big square. It is fibrous and kind of like fiberglass insulation in its consistency. You can customize the thickness by separating the foam along its length just by pulling off the layers of foam. It is easy to cut to form with a scissors.
I ordered 4 of the 3700 boxes from Amazon. They look perfect for what I wanted. I really appreciate it! I'll review this solution when I receive the boxes, but I'm very optimistic.
Thanks again!
Got the boxes today. The only thing I wish I could change is that they don't have handles.
I got 4 boxes, and each one holds a half-set. I've got two of my favorite sets stored in them, now. I will put some padding of some type in the cells at some point. Foam seems like a good idea. Here's what they look like (I've included a quarter for an idea of size):
Thanks for the suggestion on the Plano boxes. I will try them out. Here are a couple more ideas:
At Michael's (a chain of craft stores, if you don't know), I found a variety of unfinished wood boxes, one of which is the same size and shape (8.5" x 5" x 3.5") as the kind commonly used to hold smaller chess sets. It is made of cheap wood, has two metal hinges and a clasp, and costs $5. If you put some finish on it, inserted a divider, and covered the inside with felt, you would have a rough version of the wood boxes sold for $40 or more, and you wouldn't feel bad about dinging it.
For $4, Michael's also sells something called a "Memory Box", which is intended for the same purpose as that old shoebox in your closet -- storing your misc. stuff. I took the shipping boxes my chess set came in (with their foam inserts) and put them in this box. Now my chess pieces can still be safe, nestled in their foam cutouts, and the Memory Box looks much better on the shelf than the original shipping boxes.
Those are a few good ideas on the boxes from Michael's.
The thing I look to have is portability. I want to be able to fit the box I am using in the bag I am carrying the board(s) and clock in.
When dealing with roll-up boards the smaller cases work, but then you need to find boxes narrow enough to fit in them. I did so at Hobby Lobby.
For folding boards you will need a bigger bag. There are basically 3 types out there. The first and most expensive is the HOS Deluxe Tournament bag. It has enough room for their folding wood boards along with a set and clock and even some other things.
The second one is what used to be called the Executive bag by the USCF. There are a couple of places that carry this type of bag, The Chess Store (thechessstore.com) to name one. I don't care for this bag because it isn't all that roomy.
The third one that I have found and use along with the HOS deluxe is a Chess Backpack made and sold by American Chess Equipment (amchesseq.com). This bag will hold a folding linen board as well as a 2" square folding wood board (HOS (houseofstaunton.com) and Rochester Chess Center (chessset.com)) along with a set, clock and some other things.
For the above 3 bags, the plano boxes I have listed earlier in this thread is what I use. They are flat and fit in any of the above bags.
For a box that sits on a shelf or table top to hold a set, I agree that the boxes from Michael's are great options.
Learning by ordering :-) Thoughts about boxes and give me opinions on liners if you use them at all.
Before ordering the Plano boxes or something similar from Amazon beware that more than one vendor buy sthe Plano boxes and has Amazon ship them out. I got hoodwinked into thinking I ordered two different boxes and it tuned out they were the exact same Plano box only with different colot latches.
Best buy I can see from Amazon is the very roomy and 4-15 adjustable compartments from Plano called the Deep Prolatch® Stowaway®. This is the deep version of the Classic 3700 Stowaway which I will also try. Dim are 14x9.13x3.25 or 35.56x23.19x8.26. Model# 2-3730-05 coming in at a price of $6.57 shipped PRIORITy for FREE if you are a Prime customer, which I am.
The box I paid way too much money for which turned out to be the same was called Creative Options. By the way when you get it it is stamped Plano and has every marking of the same Plano box I stated in the abobe paragraph. Why did I think it was a totally different box, plastic and all? The Dim. were just a tad different. 14.125x9x3.25. I noiticed this seller was from the same city as where the Plano factory is. Really can't blame this seller, great way to make some money and really not much work to it, although you have to have some capitol to start up with the initial inventory and stock on labels putting your name on the box. Yes the plano trademark shows clearly and it is the same box.
Now for the embarrassement, I paid $11.99 for this box also shipped for FREE with Prime.
Oh well I am telling this so as no one else will make that mistake.
I bought the deep box to experiment with. This is a great size and I think I will order the standard height box too. I just wanted to see if I could stand up the P/R/N/ and maybe even the B in this higher box. Also wanted to see if there was such as item as felt with a sticky side to it as so I don't have to mess with the spreading of glue. Maybe even cork that they use to line a tool box would work well?
I have never found a need to glue the foam into the boxes.
With the Plano 3700 and the deeper one I do use the partitions to make compartments for the pieces. I will cut the foam into strips that would fill each row without the partitions and once I have the partisions in place, just cut those strips so the piece will fit into that compartment. With the Kings ond other wider based pieces I will leave the foam be a bit short and let the edge of the base fit into that gap.
I have used the green closed cell foam from JoAnn Fabrics and most recently the white foam from either Joann's or Hobby Lobby. The white stuff is kind of like fiberglass in its consistency and easy to separate the thickness layers to fit the depth as desired.
I have my HOS Morphy Series 4" Blood Rosewood set and my HOS Proline Series Rosewood set in a deeper box than the 3700 plus I used the green foam for those, only because I did those like 7 years ago and didn't know about the white stuff. I also will put more than one piece in a compartment and when necessary have a thin strip of foam cut and leave loose to place between the pieces. I have done this with my Proline Series Queens, for instance.
But the foam usually stays in place just fine without the need for gluing.
The cork idea is nice but for me that's too thin and won't cushion the pieces as well as the foam. The foam also kind of surrounds the pieces and I like that.
By the way, I quit trying to put any foam on top as the plastic lid holds the pieces firmly into the foam and won't mar or hurt the piece.
Thanks Eye, do you stand your pawns up in the box? I have a Hobby Lobby about 30 minutes from me. This white foam, does it have a proper name I can ask for as I am sure they have lots of different foam there.
I forget the name of the white foam but it comes in a squarish white sheet and is in plastic with a label on it. I think it might be called something like craft foam. I got my first sheet from Hobby Lobby a few years ago and got my last lot from JoAnn Fabrics.
When you're at the store you can look at the different ones they have. This is, obviously a soft foam. And as I said it is layered and fibery looking like fiberglass, but it is all white in color.
I'm thinking it comes in a 1" thickness. The Plano 3700 is something like 2" deep and I know that I have never used the foam at full thickness. There has to be room for the pieces after all.
I lay the pawns down with 2 per each little square and foam in the bottom. The pawns are staggered facing top to bottom, each one. The size of the pieces will show you the demand of space you need. With one of my sets with smaller pawns I actually have 4 pawns in one of those little squares with no foam. The bottom 2 face horizonally, still staggered, and the top 2 face vertically. In most other sets, the most I can fit is 2 pawns in one little square. I will put 2 bishops together and staggered as well as Knights (usually with a piece of foam between them) and sometimes Rooks. The Queens also sometimes can be staggered and with the HOS sets I always put a little foam on top to protect those pointy crenelations from chipping.
There really isn't room in the 3700 to stand the pawns up, nor in the other boxes I use.
I have a couple of woodens sets that I'd like to make portable. A nice wooden box would be ideal, but I only want a solution that will keep the pieces from clanking into each other. Most chess boxes are like $200+ for that kind of thing. Boxes that just hold the pieces loose are pretty useless to me as I could already just keep them in a drawstring bag. I don't want the pieces bumping and grinding with each other.
Now, there has to be some cheap way to do this. I've looked at making boxes out of scrap cardboard (and actually had a reasonable attempt at it). I've looked at containers for sewing supplies/thread. I've looked at tackle boxes. I'm not having much success.
Does anyone have any cheap/easy DIY ideas for this? I can't be the first to be looking for this.