Post pictures of your chess pieces/boards that you made yourself

The last photo of Fischer and Spassky is from the Piatigorsky tournament. As a coincidence yesterday, my grandson and I were playing through the moves of that very game. I have typed out several notable game of the chess masters and he and I play through the moves as a way to teach ourselves the game. It is indeed sad news to hear of the passing of the former World Champion, Boris Spassky.

Ohh looks like a Leningrad Schoolboy/Shkolnik set!

It should not be on this thread for self-made pieces. Yet, it was meant in memory of Spassky and the friendliness he brought to chess. It's a set beloved, I have posted it on pac-man chess tetris when I found it:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/pac-man-chess-tetris#comment-99839075

But now back to this thread and the wonderful arts & crafts from the posters themselves

Great thread spotted. Thank you all for contributing! Creating chess pieces by yourself is a great deal in itself, no matter the level of output.

I made two boards and gifted one to the gentleman that runs our chess club. The squares are birdseye maple and black walnut. It is two sided with the grain on the backside running vertical for those who prefer that.

That looks great. How about a photo of the board with pieces on it? I believe it would be a bliss to watch that combo in action.

Post pictures of your chess pieces and boards that you sprayed yourself, yeah

This set is resin printed, rooks, knights and bishops are self designed.

Cool I love the dual color bish. You could make a opposite part on all pieces for flare.

Making a 1966 Lanier Graham chess set.

Used a miter box and hand saw to cut the pieces out and the cuts turned out odd especially on the Knights.

I plan on makeing the other half of the set soon and staining them.

What are good stains for wood for chess pieces ?

That looks like a fun project. I'd recommend Danish oil if you don't want to change the color very much. Otherwise, I'd go with old reliable miniwax wood finish... maybe chestnut or pecan, looking at your board. Good luck!

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=miniwax+wood+finish&i=tools&crid=3GUQ3V2JLANMA&sprefix=miniwax+wood+finish%2Ctools%2C412&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

Thank you for the Minwax suggestion. I stained these with dark walnut 2716.

Plan on staining the other half with a lighter color. Maple looks good.

https://www.minwax.com/en/search?q=maple

Now you need to make a board to match

looks great... nice contrast (I only thought of that after my comment)

Finished the other half and stained then golden pecan 245. Not too bad for my first attempt but I see every flaw especially when cutting. Want to make another set when I can get my hands on a band saw.

AlAlper wrote: Now you need to make a board to match

Want to but need to figure out how. Should try the painters tape trick for the squares ⬛️

really nice... good job

First attempt at a folding board. The squares are 1-1/2". The entire thing is built out of a dead white oak tree we had milled into 1" rough cut slabs. Used a router sled to plane the boards. Cut it all on a table saw and glued together. Routed the grid pattern into the playing surface using a groove bit and filled the groove with black Timbermate putty. Stained the dark squares with Espresso Minwax (was more difficult than I was expecting), then sealed with polyurethane. I stained the border with Early American stain. The light squares were unstained. The poly darkened the light squares to the point where you almost can't see a difference between them and the border. The poly was also supposed to be satin, but it sure is glossy. I may let it cure for a week or two then try to dull it with steel wool. Hinges are cheap stainless hinges from Lowes. Ordered a small latch off the internet that will be here tomorrow. I put it on rubber feet to elevate it off of the hinge, otherwise there would have been a hump in the middle of the board. It's not an elegant solution but it worked.

The pieces are the Expert Series from Wholesale Chess. I only paid $25 for them. They're a basic weighted set, nothing fancy, but good enough for the kids. I was looking for a set of pieces in the <50$ range, and after a lot of searching there aren't that many choices, especially for 1-1/2
" squares. I'll keep an eye out at thrift stores and such, but in the mean time the pieces are perfectly playable and match the board pretty well.

Beautiful work! I might suggest adding feet near the hinges to minimize stress on them and their mounting screws over time as you've created a wonderful heirloom!

I was thinking the same thing with regard to feet under the hinges.

If I had to build it again I'd wait until it was fully assembled, including hinges, then use the router sled on the entire playing surface to truly flatten it. I planed the two halves of the playing surface before assembly and during glue up things got a tiny bit off. It's all <1/16" off, but I think I could have gotten it a little better.