Varninsed board, yes or not?

Hi,

I have a wood cheap chess set that I like to study and analyze in it. I am thinking on varnishing it, like those photos or luxury boards over Internet that look bright and reflex the pieces, but before that I would like to ask:

a) does playing over a varnished board is better? I mean, do you feel better while analising?

b) if so, have you ever varnised a board? I intuit it should be a easy task, but I have not done anything similar before...tips?

regards

Fer

How about posting a picture of your board?

Depending on color of your board, I can give you different answers.

As you can see is a small staunton 3 board and pieces, maybe it has a very fine cover of varnish, but they look as pure wood without nothing. Dont know if some tratament would be better for the set.

thx

I would leave the board & set alone unless you like a shiney glare in your eyes. Matte boards & pieces are best IMO.

I totally agree.

Hear hear.

Refinishing factory finishes, unless they're already beat up, is seldom worth the time and effort to do an acceptable job.  Buy another board with a shiny finish if you want something for display.  Cheaper in the long run than screwing with a refinishing project.  The $.02 of bitter  experience...

Just a note:  moving pieces glide so much nicer on unvarnished boards.  When they are varnished, there is more friction.  Might not care - but just a note.  

if you want some more shine without the nightmares of working out what finish will cover the factory finish, try a hard (high carnauba wax content) wax.  Its difficult to apply thinly and evenly because its  thick and hard, and takes a lot of rubbing to get the final finish, but its less complicated than something like varnish and is somewhat shiny.  The downside is that you end up with a slightly waxy finish and it'll need more maintenance than a varnished finish. 

No.

I like the set the way it is.