Wooden chess sets are used for playing while others use them for decorating purposes. High-quality wooden chess pieces are made of exotic wood and hardwood. It may be challenging to carve, so authentic wooden chess sets are precious and expensive in the market. But surprisingly, with the right materials and tools, you can make your own, too. Knowing how to carve a chess set is an excellent idea if you have woodworking skills and a love for chess.
Wood Options for Chess Pieces
A wide range of natural wood is utilized for chess pieces – from rare hardwoods to modest pine. As you learn how to carve a chess set, consider these few most popular types of wood used in making chess pieces:
Maple
It is a hardwood with wide availability and a common choice for wooden chess boards and chess pieces. It is also treasured for the unique light coloration that makes it perfect for representing the White army.
Ebony
This type of wood is quite scarce. It is dense, dark-colored, and has the unique quality of sinking in water. Its extremely dark coloration makes it perfect to represent the Black army. Ebony is highly prized and expensive as a luxury ornamental wood.
Boxwood
It is an extremely thick wood with a clean grain but doesn’t have much variety in the shading. It is remarkably thick to be cut into a monstrous point of interest. Boxwood is not an excessively lavish wood.
Black Wood
This wood is exceptionally dull and thick. But at the point when cleaned, it can get to be ebony. Nowadays, it is utilized as a part of luxury chess sets because of its increasing cost and worth.
Rosewood
It is a rich cocoa shading with flawless ruddy grains and shades. It’s not as hard as black, but it is more appealing. Rosewood tends to be slick and hard to finish; in any case, it finishes perfectly, making it ideal for chessmen. Its value and worth keep on rising. Rosewood is also utilized as a part of the assembling of musical instruments because of its luxurious tonal properties.
Sheesham Wood
It is a thick hardwood, and its grains can be much appealing. It is utilized to make chess sheets and pieces. Because of its mass accessibility, mass-created chess sets are produced using this wood. It is a natural brown wood with high density that makes it perfect for economical pieces.
Red Sandalwood
This type of wood is a deep-grained wood with exceptional figuring and rich ruddy tones. It is hard and thick and makes excellent chess pieces. Numerous super extravagance chessmen are produced using this wood.
Steps to Carve a Chess Set
Tools Required
- Pencil
- Scratch paper
- Your Desired Type of Wood
- Wooden lathe
- Carving Knife
- Different sandpaper grits
Steps:
- Designing the chess pieces. The very first step on how to carve a chess set is choosing a design for your chess pieces. You can get a plan online, source it out from books, or think of your design.
- Carving the pieces on the wood lathe. You can take two different kinds of woods, one for the darker side and the lighter side. You can also choose the same type of wood for both sides; the pieces then can be stained afterward.
- Mounting on the lathe. Take the wooden block and carefully mount it on the lathe. Then start turning and press the cutting tool up to the turning piece of wood to carve it.
- Doing the fine carving: This step is the most challenging part of the chess making process. Carve those chess pieces to perfection using special tools, knives, and your hand. Use the chess design that you have chosen, and give those details to your chess pieces.
- Sanding and treating the chess pieces. It is vital to sand the chess pieces to get a smooth and even surface. Chess pieces are also treated with a solution that helps the chess pieces to preserve.
- Final finish and polishing. Final touches are made, and the pieces created are also polished to give it a high shine. Learning how to carve a chess set requires creativity and patience, but you’ll never regret it with excellent results.
Conclusion
One good thing about carving wooden chess pieces is that there is such a vast selection of form, design, color, size, and weight that you can make with your chosen pieces. Carving wooden pieces for chess also requires a high level of precision and focus because it is a work of art. Hopefully, you have learned how to carve a chess set. Be determined, and you will be satisfied with your new project. Know more about carving.