Vintage chess set restoration | How to restore old chess piece | Changing the felt fabric of a pawn

Chess piece repair - how to repair old chess piece - changing the felt fabric
Hello everyone. Worn chess pieces that you have may need to be repaired and replaced. Performing the repair process without deforming the wood and structural form is a difficult process that requires extreme care. I have a Stuanton chess set I inherited from my father. A copy of the 1854 Anderssen series. This set can be older than 40 years. Therefore, if I am not very careful in every action I make on it, irreversible damage may occur. This damages the originality of the set.
In this video, you will watch the replacement of the worn felt layer under the chess pieces with a new one.
We can use cutters such as a utility knife or chisel to remove the worn felt fabric.
So which cutter is better to use?
This is determined by the condition of the felt fabric on the wood.
While using a utility knife to clean thick residues, chisels should be used for the most sensitive surfaces that come into contact with wood.
The use of flexible cutters such as razors depends on the control of your fingers and is therefore difficult to use. Inadvertently, cuts can occur on the wood.
Let's start with the utility knife.
As you can see, the Felt fabric is worn and too close to the wooden surface. It does not create the desired amount of cuts and the tool does not move easily.
That's why I don't use a utility knife.
Using chisels would be a better solution. Did you notice that the horizontal angle of the cutter is very small?
Now I place the chisel's cutting edge on the line where the felt fabric contacts the wood.
I do the Cutting motion by gently pushing the tip of the chisel with my thumb. Note that this movement is parallel to the wood surface.
Turning the pawn, I carefully scrape off the sticky fabric around the base.
I move as close to the wood as possible and I am very sensitive while doing this.
Yes, I have removed the coarse residue of the Fabric.
Next are the parts that we need to work more precisely. This part is actually the glue itself. Therefore, we need to remove the dried glue from the wood.
Now I reposition the chisel's cutting edge on the line where the felt fabric contacts the wood.
This time, the moves I will give to the chisel will be much shorter. I continue to scrape with slow and gentle movements.
Practical information, you can work more precisely by using the cutting corners of the chisel.
I continue to scrape by moving the chisel over the dried glue. I'm not touching the wood.
You should continue this process patiently without rushing. Especially when cleaning the dried glue remaining near the outer surface of the wood, it is necessary not to create cuts in the wood.
We removed the dried glue residues with chisel. You can see that a thin layer is still left on the wood.
It is not correct to use a cutting tool at this stage. Now I will continue to scrape the residues on the wood with sandpaper.
I use 200 grit sandpaper. I wrap the sandpaper on a thin piece of stick for easy control.
I pay attention to use the sandpaper parallel to the surface. I must not touch the visible periphery of the wood in any way.
I sand the dried glue residue with small movements.
As I get closer to the outer perimeter of the pawn, I move the sander a little more upright to avoid contact with the wood.
I keep sanding with small movements.
And yes, the Glue residue was so thin that it was negligible. So the scraping process is finished.
It's time to stick the new Felt fabric. I cut a piece of felt fabric. The fabric is thin type not a thick one. For bonding, white wood glue is used.
It is not suggested not to apply the glue directly to the chess piece. There are two reasons for this. First, after scraping, I noticed that there were pits in the base of the pawn. The second reason is that the glue needs to be on the surface as a thin layer.
Pour the glue on a flat surface first. Then rub the pawn over the glue so that it spreads.
Repeat this process several times.
Make sure the glue is thin enough that it's dispersed over the entire surface and doesn't form residue.
It is very important to have a thin layer. The glue should not penetrate deep into the felt fabric.
I clean the glue on the edge with a dry cloth.
Do not apply glue on felt fabric. Because this felt disrupts the natural structure of the fabric and hardens it.
Put the pawn on the felt fabric and press it lightly. I wait 15 minutes for the glue to dry.
After the glue dries well, I cut off the excess parts of the fabric with scissors.
I trim the edge of the pawn with scissors.
And it's done!
Let's compare the old and new situation, here is the result.

[@itsiqbalgaming]

Great video and thank you!

[@steve_etzel]

Would you recommend wetting the surface when removing the glue residue, or is it better to do it by leaving it dry?

[@ultimatecraftsmanship6832]

If the residue has not covered with a fabric material in opposite to my video, hot water will help you to remove the glue easier. Depending on the type, most of water based glues become a bit soft after keeping it in a hot water for a few minutes. So i recommend you can put your item into a hot water (be careful of the main material if its plastic of PV based) for a few minutes and make trials to cut with chisel or knife to understand the optimum duration for working easier. If the residue has covered with the fabric or another material, it does not work properly. In addition to that, compress with an hot iron indirectly on the residue may make it soft for some type of glues.

[@gamerboysuhas_7774]

Which fabric cloth u use on bottom plz tell me

[@ultimatecraftsmanship6832]

I use green felt fabric, non branded. Dense but not thick much. I prefer thin material to use at the bottom of the pieces.

[@gamerboysuhas_7774]

@@ultimatecraftsmanship6832 really really thanks bro I had a new chess set and I want to make it heavy thanks

[@ChrisSmith-rm6xl]

@@ultimatecraftsmanship6832 You are going to get quite different durability and "feel" when the piece slides depending on whether you use polyester felt or wool felt. In the set is very old and you want to stay authentic, choose wool.

[@gurpreetmann6629]

What kind of glue you use when you felt these.

[@ultimatecraftsmanship6832]

I used regular white glue for wood works. It is water based adhesive instead chemical ones due to not to effect to the felt fabric.

[@gurpreetmann6629]

@@ultimatecraftsmanship6832
I used Studio all-purpose 9 g from Dollarama. Washable, Acid free, photos, Cardboard, Envelope ✉️. It worked perfectly
What solution you use when you take off felts please reply.
Ohh my pieces are plastic from wholesale chess Single weighted.

[@ultimatecraftsmanship6832]

@@gurpreetmann6629 This kind of glue actually i haven`t used, but it seems ok. Just avoid to use much instead a thin layer only bottom of the the pieces. If you want to take off the old felts on below, you can use the same technique in my video regardless how the material is. If you do not prefer to use chisel, you can use sandpaper. You may start from lower numbers to higher. It takes more time but works.

[@gurpreetmann6629]

@@ultimatecraftsmanship6832
I already did all my three sets with felt sheet from Walmart blue 1.2 m woolcraft. Used Dollarama kids glue worked fine. Some weights of pieces were loose I fix that too

[@gurpreetmann6629]

@@ultimatecraftsmanship6832 thanks though 🙏🙏