Restoring a Lowe Set With 3 1/8" Kings
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Mar 1, 2021
0
#2
Cool 😎 I think I learned from that book. Iirc the board had black and red squares.
SamiBlue116 wrote:
I think I learned from that book.
The book says it was written by Edward Young, but I read that the name was a pseudonym for Fred Reinfeld. Reportedly, he was the once the 3rd-highest rated player in the States. Regardless, it covers the basics nicely.
Mar 2, 2021
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#4
That's interesting. Why did you need the bits of toothpick glued in the pieces? Did the plaster fall out without them?
IpswichMatt wrote:
That's interesting. Why did you need the bits of toothpick glued in the pieces? Did the plaster fall out without them?
I thought it might. The cavities didn't have any overhangs to keep the plaster from sliding out.
Mar 2, 2021
0
#6
Great job resurrecting your old set! And I very much like your board design and construction technique.
Restoring a Lowe Set With 3 1/8" Kings
Following common chess advice, I bought a collection of annotated games to see how the principles and techniques described in my chess manual are applied by master players. However, the regulation set I used to play through the games didn't fit well on my coffee table, bar-top, or desk. The edges of the board overhung, so when I bumped into them, the chessmen would slide and fall.
I then remembered a hand-me-down set I got from my father and searched through my trunk-of-childhood to find it. All of the chessmen and an accompanying book were still there, but some of the hollow pieces didn't survive intact, and the board was missing.
So, I went online to get some replacement pieces and a photo of material frequently used to make chess boards. I found a matching, but incomplete, "tournament" set made by Lowe's and a flat photo of parchment, which was commonly used to make antique chess tables.
To prevent further breakage, and give the chessmen some heft, I glued portions of toothpicks inside the pieces to act as struts and supports for the plaster that I then poured inside the cavities. After sanding the bottoms, I covered them with felt circles to protect the board.
Plastic chessmen may not be collectible, but the Lowe's set had some nice detail you won't usually find in wood or bone sets.
The king's cross had jewels, the queen's coronet had filigree, the bishops' miter had inlay, the knight's halter had decorative stitching, and the rook's turrets had stone blocks engraved in them.
I then color-shifted the photo of parchment to both ivory and black and overlaid the new images on each other to create a chessboard with 1 1/2" squares to match the 3"-tall king. I printed the board, in sections, onto card-stock, cut the sections free, and then glued them onto foam-core board.
The 14 1/2" board fits comfortably on my coffee table, bar-top, or desk, so I no longer need to worry about elbows and knees while I'm playing through instructive, and entertaining, games.