Adding weight to pieces

I received this set for Father's Day http://www.chess.com/eq/chess+sets/maple--walnut-chess-set-with-storage.

The only thing I don't like is the weight of the pieces. Does anyone know how/where to purchase weights? I was actually thinking of getting a package of fishing weights. I could drill a hole, glue the weight in and replace the felt. Has anyone ever done this?

I've actually done something similar with one of my chess sets because many of the pieces in the set had loose, rattling weights.  Of course, I never hollowed out the pieces myself and the lead weights inside were ones that came with the pieces themselves, not fish weights.  Also, the pieces were made of plastic, not wood (not sure if this makes a difference).

I first removed the felt, removed the weight inside, filled the inside with a bit of RTV silicone, placed the weight back in, placed a bit more silicone into the hole to level the base of the piece, then waited for the silicone to dry.  I replaced the felt using one of those felt stickers usually used for heavy furniture.  I've found that these stickers don't stick very well to silicone, so you'll have to make sure to peel the silicone off the base of the piece after drying.

I'm not really sure if the silicone will work with wood.  Seeing as your wooden set is on the expensive side, I'd wait until more comments before committing to anything.

I'd be worried that the heat of molten lead could crack the wood on such small pieces. I might drill as suggested but then hold the weights in with epoxy. You probably want to keep as much of the weight as possible near the base, to keep the centre of gravity low, so use the spherical weights (instead of the longer skinny ones with the rubber core). Never tried it myself though.

Good point, Metastable. The heat of the molten lead could crack the pieces. I have gained some ideas here. I think I will remove the felt, drill the hole and insert the spherical fishing weights using some epoxy. This will ensure that the weights don't rattle and that I can reapply new felt with no problem. I really love the set (it was a gift from my wife and kids) so I can't wait to give the pieces a little more hefty feel.

Thanks everyone!

I'm pretty sure what you are planning is against FIDE and USCF rules.  It's akin to "corking" or "juicing" a baseball bat. 

It's best if you adapt yourself to your pieces. I have a grandilisque chess set (alabaster and marble pieces,I think).I played quite at ease with them. But when I went to the tourney, there were these plastic pieces which were light and toppled easily. Moreover, they wouldnt slide on the board as I expected to. So the best thing is that you acustom yourself to the piece.

Regards,

Nobel

The movie was my all time best!

Maybe you should glue wood of the same color to the bottom of the piece?

any bait and tackle shop (fishing equipment) would have a good selection of lead sinkers for sale ... might be a good idea to take a look, take a chess piece or several of various sizes and see what looks like a good fit ... a little super glue with the right size sinker should glue it securely inside the piece and weight it nicely ...or you could use wood putty to fill in around the sinker and it would be very secure and be just a bit more weight as well ...

i'm not sure, as mentioned, how good an idea it is to start pouring hot lead into these pieces ... secondly, i really don't think it's necessary considering the wide assortment of various sized lead sinkers out there :)

good luck and let us know how it comes out :)

You might want to think about using iridium, it is quite dense so a small amount would would work fine for weight- also it glows a faint blue, which would be a conversation starter

If you have a gun shop in your area that carries reloading supplies you might consider getting a bag of "dust" - the smallest diameter lead shot for re-loading shotgun shells. It's VERY fine and heavy. Fill up the hole with "dust", fill the hole with epoxy glue to hold everything in place and sand the bottom flat before putting the felt on.

No heat, no wasted room.

Clamp two square-edged straight boards together and use your drill press with a forstner bit to drill holes (with the right depth and diameter to match the holes in the bottom of your pieces) centered on the seam of the boards.  Melt and pour the lead into those holes.  Remove the clamps, separate the boards and remove the lead plugs while still hot and dump them onto a piece of ceramic or cement...  but don't touch them for at least an hour or two. Glue them into the pieces and you're golden.  I've done it many times. Works great.

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so censorship is alive and well- BRAVO

I wouldn't drill too deep since it will risk coming out of a side and could make them top heavy.

I actually used to reload my own shotgun shells when I shot skeet and I had a 20# bag of 9 shot which would have been perfect. Unfortunately I don't have it anymore. I think I am going  to go with the lead sinkers just because they are cheap.

I just bought washers that matched the size of the bottom of my pieces and glued them, then glued them all down on a piece of felt.  Then trimmed the felt away.  Cost me a few bucks and possibly an hours time.

BBs are cheap

The plus to weighting the bottom though is I can slam into the table and pieces barely shuffle around and almost never fall over.  Not that it is that much of a difference if you weight them enough anyways.