DIY custom Jaques of London chess box

Hi all

I want to share with you all the steps needed to make a custom chess box (Jaques of London style). Since this box was part of a chess set intended as a gift for my father's birthday it had to be something special. The only box that caught my eye was Jaques of London chess casket but it was out of my budget and that meant I had to create my own.

Jaques of London original chess box

Since I didn't have any dimensions to start with, first I had to create the housing for the chess pieces. This involved creating a 1:1 layout in photoshop and use that as a reference

1. Taking a photo of the chess pieces (ruler on the right will serve as a reference for the 1:1 layout in photoshop)

2. Creating layout in photoshop (note part of the ruler for the 1:1 reference)

Next I created the cushions for each piece using styrofoam. Each piece was cut to a different angle so they could all sit horizontally

Dividers were created cutting 3cm wide strips of forex.

The cushions and the dividers were lined using black velvet. Spray adhesive was used for the bonding

The pawn raw had to be completed first since it defined the overall width of the frame.

Next the king cushion was placed in center followed by the queens in each side, the bishops and the knights. The space in each upper corner was used for the rooks. The rook cushions had to be created again since the first ones were a little short (see photo above)

After finishing the first frame, for the second one the I had to begin from the frame (both frames had to be the same dimensions)

Dividers were kept in place temporary using Paper tape and then glued using epoxy .

Finished frames

The overall dimensions of the frames were L x W x H  31x19x3cm

I created a sketch of the wood box I needed for the frames  in SketchUp

These designs were provided to the woodworker. The type of wood I choose was walnut.

Forex was used to divide the tray from the box and 5cm styrofoam was placed around the bottom frame do keep the tray at the desired height.

Finished box

This turned out way better than I thought and my father was impressed with the whole set.

I wanted to share this project with you and hope someone else will use it to build a more beautiful box for your precious chess pieces. The box can house chess pieces 4"- 4.4"

Materials used

- Styrofoam sheet 1cm thick

- Black velvet 1mm thick

- Forex sheet 3mm thick

- Paper tape

- Spray adhesive

- Epoxy

- Walnut wood 1cm thick

P.S. Garduna you are my life hero. Lots of love

Beautiful. Better than the one you could not afford. A work of love for your father, who will appreciate it far more than any you might have bought. 

That looks great! Well done! And thank you for sharing. I might have to give it a try this summer.

Excellent job!

Great job,  I own one of the coffers and it is surprisingly huge and I wouldn't recommend it for anything less than 4.4" . I was considering having made smaller versions to for some of my 3.75" sets. 

What a beautiful gift. I love how the top tray is flush with the lip of the box. And the tray handles protrude up into the space of the lid for easy access. It's all in the details. Great work.

Very nice. I like walnut as a wood and would have to chose between walnut and mahogany if making a box like this. 

Beautifully done! 

I like your icon btw, we happen to be related? Cousin, my birthday is coming up soon!

Wow! That is a nice box. Great job!

Very nice chess box which can be made with $20-$30.

I can see mr IpswichMatt buying this box to put in his Jaques set. I think getting out the pieces and setting up on the board is already half of the experience. The other half is watching how his opponent is handling the pieces, with cricket bat in hand reach.

Very nice work!

very very nice, love it! thanks for sharing

Very nice box , Thanks

That looks amazing fantastic job !

I don't think it will make such an impact at the overall dimensions of the box since the diameter of the pawn will determine the length of the box. For 3.75" set maybe the box will be 1-1.5" shorter

That was one of the few things I changed from the original design. In my opinion the tray was easier to remove since it didn't sit too deep and also it helped reduce the height of the box