Project - Adding weight.
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Jun 30, 2022
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#2
Looks like you’ve done a good job there. How did you grip the pieces to drill the holes?
Jun 30, 2022
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#3
Also, anyone thinking of doing this should be aware that one of the big hazards of molten lead is that if it comes into contact with any moisture then the moisture will instantly vapourise, potentially causing molten lead to effectively explode and cause injury.
Jun 30, 2022
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#4
I put them in the vice to drill.
The lead is dangerous and should not be messed with.
Ill prolly finish the job on the morrow
I would put lead at slightly above boiling water. it is much hotter, so if you burn yourself with it, it will be worse, but I have never found it more difficult or splashy to handle.
Jun 30, 2022
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#6
oh, very nice! I just saw the original post about this. well done. i have a set that looks similar and is also very lightweight, don't remember where I got it, but I think it may actually be the same set as well. this is a great enhancement...!
Good stuff Derek, looks like you put a lot of work into improving a nice chess set 
Jul 23, 2022
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#8
Finally got it finished, a couple of bits to touch up, I really did not like it lightweight and brown. SO fixed both things now we have a beautiful set. I need to touch up one of the black pieces due to a sticky glue finger incident!
heres some pictures.
I am really pleased and am happy to answer any questions
Really Great Job!
The Black instead of Brown was a good choice.
Your next project, painting a board on a picnic table. Those pieces would be fun to play with outside. You would not have to worry about them blowing away!
Awesome work 
Really like the chess board too!
Jul 23, 2022
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#11
Ok 1 tip, I have refelted pieces before and I would suggest using cuticle scissors. The have a natural curve to them which will allow you to get much tighter to the base and have less overhang.
After asking in a thread I decided to go for it and add weight to a large but cheap chess set i bought years ago in Kibris for a few thousand liera. The project is to add weight and change the brown pieces into black pieces.
This is the white pieces from the set, the king being about 90mm high but extremely light, as you can see its a handsome set.
First of all do not attempt using molten lead unless you are quite handy and you know what you are doing, both of which of course the answer for me is no. Moving forward.
I drilled out the pieces. One of the brown pieces split as I pressed far to hard with the drill. (I am actually quite handy and this schoolboy error is a shame to me) That aside the drilling went well. You can see the damaged pawn in three pieces at the front.
The depth of the holes depended on the pieces, the knights got the shallower ones, but all in all a good depth was achieved.
I set the pieces into some polystyrene as the lead fumes alone would not be enough to kill me, some dripped hot lead onto the polystyrene should be enough to poison me. I reccomend finding something else to use like with the lead.
The split pawn is repaired and ready for lead. So here is a video of the lead pouring process, I made a ventilation system out of a dog grooming hairdryer and some vacuum cleaner hose which took the fumes out of the garage. I ended up melting the lead in the ladle as it was a tricky thing to get out of the cauldron (an old goth ornament one of the kids wanted when they thought they were being edgy bless them).
It went really well. The camping stove made plenty of heat and the ladle poured at a nice rate.
The pawn at the front is the split one that I repaired (and will put a better finish to so you wont be able to tell. The weight feels superb of the pieces, You could club a seal pup with the larger pieces!!
Tomorrow I will tidy up the split pawn, fill any gaps in the bottoms where the lead is slightly shy. Add the felt to the bottoms and paint the peices. I will update tomorrow!
I hope this is of interest and I fully invite everyone to post pictures of their projects!!!!!