Anyone have cracks in chess boards?

Out of curiosity,after all the talk of pieces cracking,I'm wondering if anyone has this issue?

Have a new solid wooden chess board , gave it three coats of cooked linseed oil , then a homemade vanish ,  looks really nice ,

Would love to see pics of cracked boards. 

My thoughts were that those boards put together with individual squares might be somewhat prone to subtle cracking,since the squares are glued in place and as humidity expands the wood(or shrinks it) slight cracks could possibly occur....Just floating that thought.

I have a small crack on a new ebony board, but it's not on the surface, it's little and it's on the corner, it doesn't bother me at all. 

This is true if the incorrect glue or assembly was used. However, a correctly glued up joint with the wood correctly oriented is so strong that it should never crack. 

One reason why the endgrain boards would seem superior,imo.

Even with correct glue the wood simply has to expand and contract,due to varying humidity in a season.I'll bet the non endgrain boards could show very subtle,what I'd call micro fissures after a while.....Just sayin'.

Only if dried incorrectly.

Just think about it from a logical perspective.Regarding those gorgeous boards with fixed squares of wood,which are subsequently glued into position and basically "locked in place".

The wood is going to  both expand and contract over a period of time......I don't care how "correctly" it's made......Those locked in place squares have the potential to subtly split.

Not necessarily badly,or even observable,but the potential is there......My contention is, that is where an endgrain board is vastly superior.....and.... unfortunately far more expensive.

I'm not attempting to start any kind of negative debates,but simply sharing some thoughts.

Curious as to who makes the best quality board from the 3 companies (people) you bought from.

Lots of layers to this but it basically comes down to how quickly the wood is able to dry. You want it to dry nice and slow. When it's in a larger board form (think at the lumber mill) it slowly releases moisture. When you buy lumber and go to work with it, best practice is to check it with a moisture meter to confirm that it's reached a stabilized moisture level for your area. You can also check the moisture level after you cut the board and reveal the core. If it's not stabilized, it's more likely to continue to dry and move. If you use dry wood for 1 square and wet for the next, you could get some interesting problems. 

If you go to a local lumber supplier (hardwoods) look at the top and bottoms of the boards. Many will have paint on them from the mill. Effectively sealing the wood so the drying process is slowed down. 

If for some wacky reason you were to drill holes into the chess board and glue weighted metal slugs in there, I'm sure you'd see cracking as well. A cracked board is more likely to happen due to glue failure. A crack between the wood squares rather than in the wood of a chess board. I'd be more concerned about warping rather than cracking in a board.

ChessHouse sells imperfect JLP boards at discount. I've seen cracked boards there for sale. None at the moment.

Hmm, 

I don't think anyone is feeling upset bit a sharing of ideas, it's good to discuss details and build variances. 

I guess I'm not sure what you mean by locked into place and/or individual squares? Are you describing a board with 64 individual squares glued down to a substrate?

End grain boards are glued and expanding/contracting as well. So, I guess I'm just confused as to what you are viewing as the critical difference? 

When the wood squares have been cut down to 2x2 -2.5x2.5 inch squares the amount of expansion and contraction is extremely minimal. Add to that the fact that wood is pliable, it's not a completely rigid structure. So, some movement is natural and shouldn't be expected to cause fracturing. The problem typically comes from a border that has the grain running a different direction. Then, yes, you can crack the end squares because there is actually a large amount of movement happening. 

You could also crack a board when it gets extremely dry.

Engrain boards are more prone to warp, which is why they end up so thick and heavy! If you drop one just right, you can actually break it in half because the grain is only running 1" thick, as opposed to the grain running at least the length of the square. Or like MTM Wood does them, a board glued onto another board below, creating a stabilizing plywood effect. Stunningly beautiful work by him. 

Endgrain boards are more expensive because:

#1 they really need to be thicker to not warp and easily snap in half

#2 It's extremely difficult to find wood thick enough to do even a 2x2 square without gluing multiple boards together. Typically 1.75x1.75 would be the largest single square you could get as a pure square on an endgrain board. So essentially, you are adding an extra day of glue ups to the build. 

#3 Far more labor intensive on the finishing end. It's considered wildly dangerous to run an engrain board through a planer (the machine can explode and kill someone) so you have to use a drum sander. The drum sander leaves deep grooves in the wood, which need a TON of sanding time with an oscillating sander to get the grooves out. Endgrain forces you to work every end fiber, instead of just the surface fibers of the board. 

I really like endgrain boards. I just think that it's a bit much to say they are vastly superior if we don't have concrete data and testing to prove such a thing. I actually have a HUGE piece of walnut in my shop right now that will allow me to make an endgrain board with pure, unlaminated walnut squares. I'm on the hunt for a large board that could be the light squares to compliment it so I can make a pure version of the endgrain style. 

Well Bryan......This kind of excellent info is one reason why I posted.Very interesting and quite educational stuff....I'm done whining.-

:-) its a good conversation to have and think about from all sides!

I was working through my rounds yesterday doing splitting for the upcoming winter and found this gem that I thought was a beauty of how wood that dries too fast can act. This is cherry, I cut the tree down a year ago and have let the rounds dry for a year. You can really see how the drying/shrinking process causes splits through the end grain, where it's easiest to split wood.

This would fall into the extreme category. You would never dry lumber like this, but I figure its good imagery to add to the conversation. 

Bryan: You are giving most, if not all, of us lessons in wood and, for me and I suspect most, a lesson in how much we did not know about building a chess board. I can appreciate why I would want to buy from someone like you. There are too many shortcuts that will not turn out well later.

I am looking for a Quality Chess Set and was following up some recommendations here, particularly about Chesshouse.com where I found the link to https://www.chesshouse.com/collections/usa-made-chess-products?sort_by=relevency&page_num=2 

I prefer a set made in USA, so like many proud people from all countries, I thought I had found what I wanted with the Heirloom Quality Chess board. But once again, was suckered in by False American Advertising which claims this to be a US Made Product, but when you get to the Chess Set write up it is only the board that is made in the USA.

I just thought I would mention this, as once a supplier lies to me in their ads it is hard to trust anything from them and wanted everyone to know the facts. So just be aware fellow Chess Lovers...BUYER BEWARE always, be sure you get what you think you are paying for.

Appears I will have to look for an Imported Set....one advertised that way!

I'm confused, which set did you buy? The Heirloom one says the pieces are made in India. Was there a different set you were looking at?