Tips For Storing and Cleaning Wood Chess Sets

There has been some recent discussion regarding the proper care of wooden chess sets. I've created this thread for others to share their tips for cleaning and storing chess pieces, boards and other equipment.

I've reached out to a few manufacturers, resellers and restorers of chess pieces and will include some of their tips here. I'll update this first post as I get more advice from others.

General Advice

Storage:

• Store pieces away from direct sunlight
• Store pieces away from heat sources
• Avoid storing pieces in high humidity areas
• Avoid storing pieces where they may be subjectied to regular fluctuations in temperature

Cleaning:

• Clean and polish pieces with a dry soft cloth
• Avoid using chemicals or wet cloths to clean pieces

Noj

• They use several coats of clear lacquer for each piece (sanding between each layer) and polished with bees wax to create a high gloss finish
• With use, the gloss does wear off but can be restored with a soft furniture polish and soft cloth

ERWoodLeatherShop (aka EraRetro)

• They use maple, beach and birch for their sets
• They use a combination of stains and varnish (or wax for some kits) for the finish
• They recommend protecting chess pieces from direct sunlight, avoiding sudden temperature changes and storing them away from heat sources
• They recommend using only dry microfiber cloth to clean and polish the pieces

IM Biro

• Pending response

interesting,

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Regarding "Avoid storing pieces in high humidity areas", it's not necessarily a high humidity that causes the most problems, it's fluctuations from high(er) to low(er) humidities. If pieces (implying even the original wood harvest itself) have been properly prepared, keeping them at consistently high(er) or low(er) humidities isn't normally a problem. The problem is changes (especially rapid ones) in humidity which cause the natural stress points in the wood to fail prematurely.

One additional note, coincident temperature fluctuations exacerbate the risk over time.