Ultimate Chess Pieces

Send me a PM with the link to your item on your item page, whether Amazon or ebay. 

It's the ProTourney plastic knight from the Chess Store.

https://thechessstore.com/protourney-series-plastic-chess-set-in-burgundy-camel-3-75-king/

ah....looks good, thx Lou

Hi Folks... sorry for taking so long to get this listed.  I have the new Ultimate Chess Sets (Special edition that includes double queens) in factory sealed bags listed on ebay: 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/291867755970?

I am selling the for 35.00 on ebay but will sell them for $30.00 + shipping (I have 3 sets left) if you order direct because then I don't have to pay a 5 or 6.00 ebay fee...

Matthew

Thanks, Matt. I ordered 2. Cheers!

i got one of these sets.. found em at a local garage sale for $5.

picked it up and its my main playing set.

Well, where do I begin?  I've got the time if you have a question.

The current problem with producing the set is the weights are not going to be lead.  Steel will likely need to be machined to fit tightly into the cavity provided.  Shelby Lohrman is currently making an effort to manage this problem.

Lead is 40% denser than steel. So unless you're replacing with tungsten, osmium, Mercury or gold, the new set will be 12-16 oz. lighter than the original.

Chess pieces are considered as toys. And using the words toys, lead, and children all in the same sentence makes parents nervous, resellers worried about potential liability, and lawyers waiting for the phones to ring.

I would think tungsten carbide would be the way to go, it's more dense then lead and would require less mass to create the same weight as lead. Only down side is it would drive the price up as it's roughly $14.00 per pound and also has a higher melting point so that would I'm sure add to the price of peices due to tools needed for manufacturing. 

Shelby,

Sounds like your making some serious progress. Are you going to offer a Kickstarter or are you past all that? And yes I understand about tungsten rasing the price 😀

Lead is best... cheap and doesn't rust.

Hope so, sounds like maybe not.  Guess we will find out in September.

You know what happens when I use a heavy set like that ... 

Sounds great, it could use a pinch more in height anyways and I like a broader base too. I am sure the final set will be a winner.  

Looking forward to ordering a set or two...

... give them an ACE Ultimate Chess Set. 

There has to be some alternative to lead. Even if it costs much more.

No one can afford taking the risk of putting lead weights into the hands of children. Sets will fall apart, no matter what glue is used.

The consumer product safety regulations for toys sold in the US have banned lead for about ten years. Somehow, I doubt that even the current administration will remove the lead ban.

Lead weights are about as dangerous to your health as smoking cigarettes or using a cellphone while pumping gas is likely to cause an explosion.  Lead is dangerous when 1) used as an additive in products that might be digested or absorbed into the body 2) when fumes/vapors from smelting lead is inhaled. 

Lead weights falling out of a chess pieces,  OH NO!  RUN!  CALL THE HAZMAT TEAM! CLEAR THE ROOM!  SAVE THE CHILDREN!

If you coat the lead with an epoxy or some protective coating problem solved... you will never have to worry about possibly making contact with the poisonous killer metal.  Sometimes solutions are so simple and cheap.   

Even if it falls out, it is capsulated in a protective coating.  just don't eat or melt it and you will be fine.  Last I checked most people are not eating or melting chess pieces...

You are consuming more lead in your food and water then you ever will from playing with lead in a solid form.  Even the EPA agrees that lead in a solid form is not absorbed through the skin, you can safely wash in water with elevated lead levels, just don't drink it. 

As far as lead contaminating the environment?  Last I checked lead (Pb) its not man-made, it is collected from the environment.  Sure, you don't want it in your soil or water.  Lead does not move through soil -- soil is contaminated when products that contain lead, as an additive, have been used and coat or stick to the soil, examples: gasoline, paint,  pesticides, and industrial dust and compounds.

Lead most commonly gets into water from old lead pipes that are decaying  and lead solder used on some older plumbing fixtures both breaking down from exposure to acidic water for a long time.  Industrial lead use can contaminate water too, lead dust and compounds.

Basically, if lead is not turned into very small particles (dust that can move in the wind), used to make compounds, or turned into a vapor we are safe.  Lead in a large solid form like weights stays put, the wind, water, and soil will not move it, not even spilled coffee... that is why it is so good at keeping chessmen where you put them! 

Peace and may your chessmen be weighted properly.

Finally there is a voice of reality.

We have been aware of lead poisoning for a great number of years making its removal from paint for instance (Don't chew on that window sill, kid.).

Having lead weights inside chess pieces poses no health risk unless someone can take a chess piece apart and either licks or chews on the soft metal.  Of course there also is a problem if one is hit very accurately with a lead weighted piece.

Most kids that are stupid enough to lick a lead weight cannot get the thing out or are smart enough to play chess anyway.

Plus most sets kids play with have no extra weighting to begin with.