The Making of the Chess Set!

This Chess Set took me 4 solid days to make and finish! What an adventure since it was the first one I have done and the first "3-d" cutting that wasn't practice. Needless to say, it came out better than my expectations, and was actually fun to do. I made it for my son Timmy for Christmas, hence the name "Tim Wolfe" on it, because he is really into chess now. Here is the step by step on how it was done. Please click on the thumbnails for a larger picture!

The First things that need to be done is develop the patterns on the computer, print them out, glue them to the wood to be cut out, and cut the wood into sections. I used a 3/4" by 3/4" piece of select pine for this.

Cutting out "3-d" items is a challenge to everyone. The first cut is always the easiest because you have a nice solid piece of wood to work with. The second cut is a challenge for several reasons. You have to make the wood "solid" again to make an accurate cut. I do this by clamping 2 hardwood pieces to the already cut side. If you don't do this, the inside piece of the wood will shift, thus either breaking it or getting a lopsided cut. Blade speed is also important! You have to maintain the same speed throughout the entire piece so as to not "warp" it or make it lopsided. Lastly, for symmetrical items as most of the chess pieces are, you have to cut both sides EXACTLY the same so all corners and such match. Talk about nerve wracking!!!!

... and at the end, you get to take it apart piece by piece to reveal your inside cut!

Then you repeat and repeat and repeat (did I mention repeat?), etc. until all of them are finished!

The aftermath.....

Don't the chess pieces look like fun to do! LOL, on the next page we will do the board, staining and name!!!