Adding weight to pieces

I completely agree about being top heavy = bad.

My original set was all hand carved wood.  The pieces are huge though, but very light.  They were so top heavy that they easily fell and would knock the others over like bowling pins.  Now you practically have to flip the table over for them to spill, and I honestly don't think the washers were that heavy.  Just having the extra weight on bottom made all the difference.  Not saying you should go my route, just keep the weight on bottom as best you can and you will be satisfied with the results.

I used fishing weights. Glued them into the bottoms of cheap plastic pieces and used black duct tape for bottoms. It's now a very cool little chess set. The pieces are way more than triple weighted.

I actually have one of those cheap plastic sets (Chess/Checkers) you speak of, and my family is avid fisherman.  Perhaps I should do that to them so I can haul around my checkers also.

Don't you flip checker pieces over when they promote?  I'm just wondering how you'd get away with adding the weights to them.

Hey Musikamole, do your pieces stick to the board?  Is it now a travel set?  :-p

I just meant for the cheap plastic set of chess.  It already came in its own box with checkers.  And you can flip the pieces, but we always would stack them.  Easier to see, especially for those with poorer vision.

oh,

Old thread, but I've got to say that this is brilliant. This is one of those "why didn't I think of that?" kind of things. And to add to it, instead of messing with glue, after dropping the molded slug into the bottom of the chess piece, I'd then drill a 1/8" hole down through the center of the slug and into the wood of the chess piece some, countersink it, and drive a wood screw in there (you could use a brass screw for a little extra weight over a steel screw). Then you'd have a mechanical bond rather than a chemical bond (chemical bonds can fail; the wood screw would never fail), and you wouldn't have to worry about getting glue somewhere on the chess piece where you don't want it (which could mar the finish, depending on what you're using for glue).

As a chemist, I would strongly recommend that you not heat, mold or use lead.  It is a heavy metal and very toxic.  Steel slugs can be found at hardware stores and are what manufacturers today use.  Lead is dangerous, far more so that we thought a decade ago, and is being studied for its potential link to dementia and Alzheimer's diseases.

Lead is perfectly safe to handle; if it were not, there would be an awful lot of fishermen, handloaders, bullet casters, shooters, mechanics (lead wheel weights), solderers, hot metal typesetters, and so on, in a whole heap of trouble. The only realistic danger from melting lead is burning yourself, which can be minimized by wearing heavy clothing, gloves, and goggles.

Lead is about 30% heavier than steel for a given volume, which is why it works better for weighting chessmen, which only have a relatively small area in which to fit the weight.

Instead of lead, one should use mercury.  It'll add more weight.  Uranium is probably better, but hard to come by.

Gold, platinum, and tungsten are heavier than either one (either of the two former ones could be used to actually justify the price of the higher end JoL and HoS sets). Osmium and the nearly identical-in-weight iridium are as heavy as you can get.

Lead is ideal because it is cheap, heavy, has a low melting point, and is safe to handle, which is why it has been used as a weight in various applications for ages. Additionally, once it is inside a chess piece, it doesn't even get handled directly.

By the way, your [misplaced] sarcasm is noted.

Lead has been shown to decrease the intelligence (I.Q.) of children who are exposed to lead-based paint and is being studied for possible links to adult dementia.  We have taken lead out of motor fuel (tetraethyl lead), paint, pipes, children's toys, glazed ceramics.  It is banned in the U.S. for waterfowl shot and for hunting ammunition in areas of California, Nevada, Idaho in which the California condor is dying of lead poisoning from lead fragments in gutpiles left behind by hunters.  It is also shown to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Bald eagles, Golden eagles and other scavengers that feed on hunter carcasses left in the field.  The federal government in the U.S. spends billions of dollars every year to clean up dangerous Superfund cites in lead mining communities such as Pitcher, OK, Galena, KS and Duneweg, MO.  It is a known, toxic heavy metal.  I'm a chemist - what do I know?  Look it up.

This is strange forum software; normal BB code such as [quote][/quote] doesn't work. I guess I'll use bolding instead:

Lead has been shown to decrease the intelligence (I.Q.) of children who are exposed to lead-based paint and is being studied for possible links to adult dementia.

That's lead oxide, not lead. Additionally, there has to be a path for it to get into your system. Just being in a room with lead-based paint on the walls does absolutely nothing. The lead oxide suspended in the dry paint does not randomly go airborne.

There are no realistic paths for lead, the metal, to get into your system. I suppose you could eat it, or sand it until you have a pile of dust and then snort it ...

Lead, in the form of a chunk of solid metal, can not get into your system transdermally.

The rest of your post is irrelevant as well, as it involves ingesting lead or environmental issues. I'm pretty sure that eating lead is not a part of the process of weighting chess pieces.

I'm a chemist - what do I know?

What does being a chemist have to do with anything?

Look it up.

Look what up? Everything you typed is irrelevant and not in contention in the first place. In order to type something relevant, explain how any of that applies to the process of weighting chess pieces with lead. Do you think that merely touching solid lead is dangerous? If so, how? Do you think that playing with chess pieces weighted with lead is dangerous? If so, how? Does the lead somehow teleport itself into your system?

Lead oxidizes naturally which is why lead has a whitish powder on the surface when exposed to the air for any period of time.  Powder is inhaled or ingested easily.  Lead heated creates lead vapor.  Indoor shooting ranges (for example) have huge exhaust fans to move air outside to prevent inhalation.  Why is lead an environmental issue if it isn't dangerous or toxic?  Why is lead no longer being used for weighting of chess pieces?  Why does the medical profession bother to use EDTA chelation to lower lead toxicity in children and adults who have high levels of lead in their bloodstream?

I'm not here to argue.  I do know a bit about lead toxicity.  As a chemist, one of my jobs is to recognize and avoid the risks involved in handling dangerous chemicals and elements.  Obviously @MaximumRecoil has an alternate agenda which would suggest a fascination with firearms.  Use at your own risk and wash your hands.

Lead oxidizes naturally which is why lead has a whitish powder on the surface when exposed to the air for any period of time.

No, it doesn't, at least not the lead alloys used for common sources of lead. Do you see any white powder coating old bullets, sinkers, or wheel weights? I can take a picture of some .45 Colt LRN cartridges that I bought in 1997 if you want.

Lead heated creates lead vapor.

No, it doesn't. Lead doesn't vaporize until 3164 °F (boiling point). It melts at
621.5 °F. No one is going to get lead to anywhere near its boiling point at home over a wood fire or burner.

Indoor shooting ranges (for example) have huge exhaust fans to move air outside to prevent inhalation.

Do you realize what happens when you fire a gun? Explain how that relates to chess piece weights.

Why is lead an environmental issue if it isn't dangerous or toxic?

Is that a joke? If not, then it is a straw man, and can legitimately be dismissed. I never claimed that lead "isn't dangerous or toxic". There are no realistic toxicity dangers involved in making lead weights and installing them in chess pieces.

Why is lead no longer being used for weighting of chess pieces? 

You'll have to ask the manufacturers that, but my guess would be liability concerns. Who knows if someone's toddler is going to tear off the felt, pry on the lead weight, and try to eat it. People weighting their own chess pieces can decide for themselves if that is a realistic concern or not. For example, I have no kids, thus, not a concern.

Why does the medical profession bother to use EDTA chelation to lower lead toxicity in children and adults who have high levels of lead in their bloodstream?

See above. That lead is significantly toxic is not now, nor has it ever been, a point of contention. However, in order for that to be relevant, it has to first enter your system.

I'm not here to argue.  I do know a bit about lead toxicity.  As a chemist, one of my jobs is to recognize and avoid the risks involved in handling dangerous chemicals and elements.

Except, solid lead isn't dangerous to merely handle. If you reply again you need to support this claim. Also, explain fishermen, handloaders, bullet casters, shooters, mechanics (lead wheel weights), solderers, hot metal typesetters, and so on, who have no problems.

Obviously @MaximumRecoil has an alternate agenda which would suggest a fascination with firearms.

Where did the "um" come from? Also, your out-of-left-field attempted crystal ball reading is dismissed out of hand.

Here is another idea for adding weight and I was wondering if anyone has used it? Wax from a craft shop (for candles and molds). The reason I ask is because i found two book ends that mom made back,in her craft days and I could not believe how HEAVY they were since they were not that big. When I flipped them over to look at the bottom base I found that the cavity was filled with wax. I realize because of the size ratio compared to chess pieces there would be a big difference but it might be an easy alternative for the cheaper plastic sets that need just a little bit of weight added

Paraffin wax is a little lighter than water, which means it is heavier than many or most common hardwoods, but lighter than boxwood and ebony. So if you weighted say, walnut pieces with wax, it would make them a little heavier. But if you "weighted" boxwood pieces with wax, it would be counterproductive, making them slightly lighter.

Wax is a little lighter than e.g. ABS plastic, so no weight benefit there either, unless the pieces are already hollow and you want to make them about as heavy as solid plastic pieces.

Lead is about 12-1/2 times heavier than wax for a given volume.

^ yes I was referring to hollow plastic chess pieces. Even the smaller analysis sets which are too small for metal slugs (which may be too small with thinner walls to handle melted lead also IMO )