New Synthetic material to craft chess sets.

The Noj company from Slovenia is implementing a new line of synthetic material called Kerrock used to craft new chess set designs. I think I will be one to buy one of these newer BCE chess set version when made available. I also would like to purchase the newest Dubrovnik edition the Minceta they recently released for sale into their inventory of great chess sets for sale earlier this year. Hopefully soon...

Crafting a finial made of Kerrock material. 

How the new BCE King, Queen and Rook look. Outstanding craftsmanship. The king's cross and queen's double crown finial  and sweeping crown are quite the show stopper along with the crenellations and battlement window cutouts within the sidewalls of the rook's tower. A definite must have in my book. 

The material looks great and workmanship #1 of course. Looks messy for the carver.  At first, I thought he had silly string sprayed all over his face and head 

At least he's protecting his ears! Their sets are my favourites, I'm curious to see what this new synthetic material is all about. Have they released any info themselves?

From what I gathered it's called Kerrock a synthetic malleable material good for wood craftsmen/carvers. It is stainable and quite strong and durable in composition. 

Any idea as to its density/weight comparative to woods?

Great post,from one of Chess.com's outstanding collector/members.

I couldn't gather that specific information only this definition of what kerrock material is:

Kerrock is a composite material that looks and feels like stone but is actually acrylic based. The composition is made by mixing acrylic polymer with aluminium hydroxide both of which are completely safe to both humans and the environment as a whole.

I would guess it closer in density composition to that material called Corian which mimics stone and used for kitchen and bathroom countertops in lieu of real stone such as granite, but kerrock is lighter in weight and easier to sculpt, I would guess. 

This is all the information I was able to round up. 

It's beautiful! Am I the only one who thinks it looks like wood?

I think it looks very much like wood and chip and crack proof. Was reading it also can be stained. Question is how expensive is this. The carving (labor) I am guessing is more expensive too.

I am liking it very much. 

Guys, just to clear this up: The second picture showing a king, queen and rook of the stage 3 BCE set to be released soon actually features maple pieces, if I understood correctly. Only the first picture features the kerrock material. As Noj mentions on their Instagram page: "Only BCE stage 1 will be available in kerrock." I'm not sure as to why that is, but I imagine that it's got something to do with the limitations of turning and finishing kerrock, compared to wood. Perhaps BCE 2 and 3's collars would be harder to achieve with this synthetic material?

It's actually wood, European maple to be precise the BCE Stage 3 set is still under production manufacturing and design development operations as seen in the second photo shown. In the first photo,  the kerrock material is being turned on a lathe but according to Noj the kerrock is very difficult to sculpt into fine intricate carvings such as those seen in the new developing BCE Stage 3 set being perfected. Here are a few photos of what the kerrock material looks like turned into a Stage 1 BCE set. Very smooth contours, remember kerrock reacts like cutting corian material for kitchen and bathroom countertops so it may be very difficult to carve very intricate designs that could easily be chipped or even chunks being gouged out when using such carving tools. 

Thank you MT. 

Note the finials on the royal pair, those are quite intricate, are they strong or do they break off?

I would like to know about the weight please, are the pieces naturally heavy or weighted in the base?

Thank you.

The black knight catching a dos (slang for nap) is also quite cute.

Noj usually adds weight to the bases of the pieces unless the customer requests that no weights or a DGT coil be installed into the base for board recognition software purposes on a DGT board paired with a computer laptop, tablet or phone if a customer has that software on their smartphone. The Queen's unique finial and the King's beautifully sculpted cross along with the rook really caught my eye for this new BCE Stage 3 set from Noj. It is on my list to obtain. 

I should have mentioned that I was asking about the BCE Stage 1 synthetic material, not the BCE Stage 3 maple wood.

I believe the same factors would apply if you're only referring to the weights of the pieces. It would be up to the customer to let Noj know what they want to have in their sets when ordering. The material kerrock is close to composition like corian which is made for kitchen and bathroom countertops. It has some specific weight to it probably heavier than wood and you may not need to have weights added on if a customer chooses this type of material to be crafted from the Noj company. I hope this helps your inquiry. If you really want to know all the details here is the link to their company so you can chat with them:

https://www.noj.si

Thanks, I was just being curious and lazy.

I have known about NOJ and BCE and Dubrovniks for years.

I did click the link and saw the set on the home page but then I had to stop.

It was torture man.

Btw,I'm pretty sure this material was used to kill the Night King on Game Of Thrones! -

I wouldn't know about that I guess you would have to have a talk with Arya about that or Bran the Broken.