Looking for tips to restore an old chess set

Here you go:

Quite simple, as I said, but lovely.

Yes, I think I will order some (I've seen a pack of 40 for less than $5, shipping included). I will see if I'm happy with the results and try to repair it. Thank you!

how'd this project end up?

What a Beautiful old set, love the simplicity of the pieces reminds me of the set my dad taught me with but much nicer .definitely do it,                                                                        good luck 

OMG, I totally forgot to upload the pictures.

Well, after some time, I could finally end this project at the end of the summer, so here it is:

Pieces sole, with billiard cloth thanks to dajamps suggestion (before/after):

I finally didn't do anything to the pieces themselves appart from the soles and cleaning. Like dajamps said, the pieces have seen some battle, and it's ok to show  .

Board, after polishing and some beeswax (before/after):

More of the board, after the whole process. I also put billiard cloth underneath it (not seen in the picture) to avoit scratching it or the table:

And the whole set (not the best pictures thanks to my camera, but you can see the difference):

(I like to play black)

I have to say I'm very happy with the result and I really loved doing this project. I'm currently having a match on it against a workmate (we play on the phone, but I like to also have the match on the board so I can better see some possible moves) and it looks amazing:

What do you think about the final result?

That came out very nice! Amazing difference. What brand of bees wax did you use? I am looking to restoring a board

I used HG beeswax, but I think there is practically no difference between brands.

Great job. Did you polish out the scratches on the board with fine sandpaper?

I actually used a sander on all the board (there were scratches all across it), first with coarse-grained paper to remove all the scratches (very carefully, I applied it for like five seconds, removed, looked to check that I hand't overdone it and continued) and later with fine-grained paper to make it smooth.

wow! came out great. thanks for sharing. 

i'm restoring a chess table i picked up at an estate sale a couple of years ago. i'm going to have to clean up the cast iron base (it's a bit rusted here and there, as is the hardware), re-felt the bottom, and refinish the top. the chessmen are in decent condition, though the lacquer job on them is a bit sloppy. going to have to re-felt those at the very least. 

thanks for sharing the project. definitely will be taking some of the pointers found in this thread.