I'm just getting started in woodworking and have watched your videos for about a year. I learn something new every time you share details of what worked and what didn't. Today it was taking the kerf into consideration and to account for it in planning. I am finishing up assembling my first table saw on Thanksgiving and hope to build the miter saw station in December from the plan I purchased from you this summer but never found time to tackle. Thank you for inspiring me to start this journey.
Jay, This right here is why you have an amazing channel. I know it wasn't easy making this video, as it seems you had to deal with objections/questioning from other folks. Taking the the time to describe your thought process brings us all together. We are all learning, and it seems some of us are watching TH-cam videos to get that knowledge. Thank you for an in-depth explanation of what went on in your head, I personally learned a lot. Thank you. Bob
I have made a chessboard using 1/2"-thick tiles, but to allow for wood movement I used a technique from James Krenov, who used dowels to attach the tiles to each other, leaving 1/8" inch between the tiles. The tiles are then supported by a frame with crosspieces that are not attached to the tiles themselves. A tricky project, to be sure, but the result is (1) controlled wood movement, and (2) a really eye-catching 3D-appearing chessboard. I have also made chessboards using the approach you have laid out and it works very well. BTW, I totally agree with you about not putting splines in the corners. First, your wood is thick enough to have a good glue surface. Second, splines (unless they were hidden) would detract from the appearance of the piece -- which is stunning.
Regarding the splines, sometimes i use the same material for a spline to make the spline more subtle. In other words, use walnut splines for the walnut box. You will have to find some contrasting grain in your walnut because sometimes the walnut spline gets lost in the walnut box, but it still looks great. Just very subtle.
With this Blog, it is clear you put 'A Lot' of thought into this project. Unless you are going to use the box as a football, then I don't see a problem with damage due to movement of the pieces while carrying it from the shelf to your playing surface. The wood bottom as you say accentuates the rest of the box. I use a tip from Steve Ramsey in that I smear glue on the end grain and allow to dry before the actual finish glue up which gives strength to the end grain joints, my opinion like yours that it did not need splines. The thickness of the sides would lend strength anyway, plus the supporting structure. I said it in the build video, that is one beautiful box / board. and agree it is probably the best that I have seen of your work. Thank you Jay, and hopefully you will win a few of your games.
Jay, in my opinion (not that it matters at all), you are 100% correct about omitting the felt on the bottom. While a student at MSU (Industrial Education), I made a chess set, turning each piece (walnut and maple to contrast), but I used ceramic tile squares for the board. Wish I had used wood. But, I did line the edge of the playing area (sorta a "moat" between the playing surface and the walnut framing) with red felt. Over time, it began to look awful. Dust, dirt, etc., got into the felt and detracted from the overall look. Several years after I made that project, I became disgusted that what had started out as a prized heirloom-to-be morphed into something that I had relegated to the top shelf of my closet. I should have kept the pieces, because they represented many, many hours of careful labor and were gorgeous. But, I was displeased with how the felt made things look. Result? I finally transferred my formerly prized work of art to a dumpster at the convenience store at the Southeast corner of North Montgomery and Hwy 82. Guess what? The felt no longer bothers me. Ha! So, major kudos for preserving the integrity of your project by the matched hickory bed!
I agree with you on the splines - you have enough going on with the chessboard surface, which is the focal point of the project. Fantastic job, well done!
Jay, I believe that your black chess pieces are carved in coal and that the rotten egg smell is the sulfur that is in and around coal. Not sure what the other white stone is unless it is soap stone. Great build.
If those pieces move with such force to break OR to break the wood, you are in a car accident and the least of your worries are your chess pieces. GREAT project Jay. Happy Thanksgiving.
I really enjoyed the build video for this project. I've got a set of stone pieces of my own that I need to eventually build a board for and this background gave me a lot to think about.
Great job as always Jay! Jimmy and Your chess boards/boxes are the best I've seen in a while. You always have great attention to detail and I know you like responding to peoples comments on video but you don't have to defend any of your design ideas. if you're happy with it then that's what matters
Best piece you've made so far IMHO. Strange thing, Ive had a chess board veneer on Baltic birch sitting around for a while that I was struggling to think of a final project for. Watch this space. I will also probably CNC 1-8 and A-H on the side pieces v 2 inch squares. Great job.
Great looking board!! Great follow up with the process and justifications of 'why'. Could you do a demo on how to cut miters for a continuous grain match?
I really like this board! I may try this sometime. I think I would make it a chess/checkers board that can come out of the box and flip over to the other game. And I think it’d be convenient to make it a table with 4 legs. Really nice table. Thanks for sharing!
Jay - You are so funny! I watched the build video and thought it was great. I did not see anything to point out, or question. In the followup, you critique a few items (I missed those points). The build and the final product were well done.
It is a very nice looking and well thought out piece of work Jay! Speaking of wood movement, perhaps you could do a "Matthias Wandel test" of sorts. If the wood is totally covered in poly or acrilic paint to the point where no moisture might seep in. Would the wood (pun) still expand and contract?
It 's very instructive to hear your considerations. Thanks for sharing. It is even more beautiful now I know why it is build as it is build. Jay, I wish you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving from Europe.
I agree it looks nice a clean. One option, if you later decide to add corner splines for strength, would be to make splines from same wood (walnut) that the sides are made from. If the grain is a close match it might not look too busy. Great looking chess board!
Jay have a Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends. After watching this video I'm going to have to go back and watch the first one again. And for me that's a happy accident lol.
Where did you buy those stones? I got something very similar looking and that is Alabaster stone. Awesome project anyway and great use of that shooting board!
Stone is perhaps Alabaster, which can be carved and dyed, see for example: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabaster What ever it looks fabulous and so right to keep the beautiful wood grain for the base.
Love the vlogs to follow up the videos. Both vids provided good info and content. I think the splines would have looked good too (assuming they would have been hickory). Thank you!
Awesome build and the pieces match perfect. Felt is more to help prevent surface to surface ware damage over time, like the pieces waring on the wood or vise versa , not really just rolling around. But like you said it's unlikely that much damage would happen
Great videos, Jay! You often talk about expansion/contraction and how you account for that, but then I watch other guys like David Picciuto, who frequently says he doesn't consider it to be that big of an issue in most of his projects - especially small ones. I'm trying to figure out just how big of an issue it is - so, I guess I'm wondering if you have any personal examples you can share of projects that have failed because expansion/contraction wasn't accounted for. (It makes sense to me on bigger projects like a table, just curious about the smaller ones.)
There's a lot that goes into play with expansion and contraction. Generally speaking, larger panels (table top) require more allowance for movement because there is a long stretch of material along the direction of expansion and contraction, smaller alternating grain glue joints (rail and stile cabinet door) don't create enough force with wood movement to destroy the joint as the glue has more holding force than the small amount of wood has with expansion and contraction, and thin materials (top veneer on plywoood) don't create enough force with wood movement to cause any damage.
Love the additional information on this 2nd channel. great job! Would you make the sides a little shorter if you could? I made a board where I had 2 under drawers for the pieces.
Do you have any plans for the rest of the glue-up from which you cut the veneer? You could probably make another two or three chessboards with that material.
Happy Thanksgiving! Great videos. I see that in older videos you had a 12v impact driver, was that good enough for your projects? Thinking of getting a set but not sure if I need a 18v set
Jay the black stone is most likely sphalerite. It is a mineral that is high in sulfur, the rotten egg smell. Sphalerite is a very important ore in zinc.
I'm guessing they are most likely soap stone. My dad has a set and when you described how you could scratch then with a finger nail it reminded me of his set.
Beautiful chess board! As for the black pieces, I do know that hydrogen sulfate smells just like rotten eggs, so the stone may be from a high sulfur area. Have a happy Thanksgiving!
That's a real nice chessboard. But I noticed that u try to find 2 many mistakes n your wood work and explain the mistakes. You do fantastic work. So please stop being hard on your self.
I'm just getting started in woodworking and have watched your videos for about a year. I learn something new every time you share details of what worked and what didn't. Today it was taking the kerf into consideration and to account for it in planning. I am finishing up assembling my first table saw on Thanksgiving and hope to build the miter saw station in December from the plan I purchased from you this summer but never found time to tackle. Thank you for inspiring me to start this journey.
I like that you admit the errors and changes. It helps us all learn. Gotta love happy accidents :)!
Jay,
This right here is why you have an amazing channel.
I know it wasn't easy making this video, as it seems you had to deal with objections/questioning from other folks.
Taking the the time to describe your thought process brings us all together. We are all learning, and it seems some of us are watching TH-cam videos to get that knowledge.
Thank you for an in-depth explanation of what went on in your head, I personally learned a lot.
Thank you.
Bob
I have made a chessboard using 1/2"-thick tiles, but to allow for wood movement I used a technique from James Krenov, who used dowels to attach the tiles to each other, leaving 1/8" inch between the tiles. The tiles are then supported by a frame with crosspieces that are not attached to the tiles themselves. A tricky project, to be sure, but the result is (1) controlled wood movement, and (2) a really eye-catching 3D-appearing chessboard.
I have also made chessboards using the approach you have laid out and it works very well.
BTW, I totally agree with you about not putting splines in the corners. First, your wood is thick enough to have a good glue surface. Second, splines (unless they were hidden) would detract from the appearance of the piece -- which is stunning.
Totally agree with the wood bottom and material mixes. Great work!
Regarding the splines, sometimes i use the same material for a spline to make the spline more subtle. In other words, use walnut splines for the walnut box. You will have to find some contrasting grain in your walnut because sometimes the walnut spline gets lost in the walnut box, but it still looks great. Just very subtle.
With this Blog, it is clear you put 'A Lot' of thought into this project. Unless you are going to use the box as a football, then I don't see a problem with damage due to movement of the pieces while carrying it from the shelf to your playing surface. The wood bottom as you say accentuates the rest of the box. I use a tip from Steve Ramsey in that I smear glue on the end grain and allow to dry before the actual finish glue up which gives strength to the end grain joints, my opinion like yours that it did not need splines. The thickness of the sides would lend strength anyway, plus the supporting structure. I said it in the build video, that is one beautiful box / board. and agree it is probably the best that I have seen of your work. Thank you Jay, and hopefully you will win a few of your games.
Jay, in my opinion (not that it matters at all), you are 100% correct about omitting the felt on the bottom. While a student at MSU (Industrial Education), I made a chess set, turning each piece (walnut and maple to contrast), but I used ceramic tile squares for the board. Wish I had used wood. But, I did line the edge of the playing area (sorta a "moat" between the playing surface and the walnut framing) with red felt. Over time, it began to look awful. Dust, dirt, etc., got into the felt and detracted from the overall look.
Several years after I made that project, I became disgusted that what had started out as a prized heirloom-to-be morphed into something that I had relegated to the top shelf of my closet. I should have kept the pieces, because they represented many, many hours of careful labor and were gorgeous. But, I was displeased with how the felt made things look.
Result? I finally transferred my formerly prized work of art to a dumpster at the convenience store at the Southeast corner of North Montgomery and Hwy 82.
Guess what? The felt no longer bothers me. Ha!
So, major kudos for preserving the integrity of your project by the matched hickory bed!
I agree with you on the splines - you have enough going on with the chessboard surface, which is the focal point of the project. Fantastic job, well done!
this is by far my favorite project you've made. just want to say I really enjoy your channel!
Great job. I like how you explain everything and you are not afraid to say you screwed up.
Jay, very nicely done. It's nice to listen to the thought processes you used while making this box. Congratulations on a great build.
Despite all the problems you describe, you seem to really love the box/board. Great job as usual. Good luck shooting that turkey!
Jay, I believe that your black chess pieces are carved in coal and that the rotten egg smell is the sulfur that is in and around coal. Not sure what the other white stone is unless it is soap stone. Great build.
Allen Perry is on point, sulphur = rotten eggs
If those pieces move with such force to break OR to break the wood, you are in a car accident and the least of your worries are your chess pieces. GREAT project Jay. Happy Thanksgiving.
After you make these beautiful projects, how long do you just sit and stare at them? I didn't even make that, and I enjoy just looking at it, haha.
I really enjoyed the build video for this project. I've got a set of stone pieces of my own that I need to eventually build a board for and this background gave me a lot to think about.
Great job as always Jay! Jimmy and Your chess boards/boxes are the best I've seen in a while. You always have great attention to detail and I know you like responding to peoples comments on video but you don't have to defend any of your design ideas. if you're happy with it then that's what matters
Best piece you've made so far IMHO. Strange thing, Ive had a chess board veneer on Baltic birch sitting around for a while that I was struggling to think of a final project for. Watch this space. I will also probably CNC 1-8 and A-H on the side pieces v 2 inch squares. Great job.
Great looking board!! Great follow up with the process and justifications of 'why'. Could you do a demo on how to cut miters for a continuous grain match?
Thanks for all of the additional info Jay!
I really like this board! I may try this sometime. I think I would make it a chess/checkers board that can come out of the box and flip over to the other game. And I think it’d be convenient to make it a table with 4 legs. Really nice table. Thanks for sharing!
Great follow up Jay
Enjoy the time off and Happy Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family! Enjoy the time off and thanks for all the great content you deliver.
Jay, With all of that chess knowledge Bobby Fischer would be proud of you!! Nice game set. JimE
Jay - You are so funny! I watched the build video and thought it was great. I did not see anything to point out, or question. In the followup, you critique a few items (I missed those points). The build and the final product were well done.
It is a very nice looking and well thought out piece of work Jay! Speaking of wood movement, perhaps you could do a "Matthias Wandel test" of sorts. If the wood is totally covered in poly or acrilic paint to the point where no moisture might seep in. Would the wood (pun) still expand and contract?
Thank you for the detailed explanations for this project. Great turnout.
It 's very instructive to hear your considerations. Thanks for sharing. It is even more beautiful now I know why it is build as it is build. Jay, I wish you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving from Europe.
I agree it looks nice a clean. One option, if you later decide to add corner splines for strength, would be to make splines from same wood (walnut) that the sides are made from. If the grain is a close match it might not look too busy. Great looking chess board!
Chris Guerette I thought about that too. Thanks for the Ida reinforcement.
Jay Bates ebony or a really dark wood spline would look great.
I agree, good idea Chris. That would allow Jay to keep the clean look but give some extra strength to the box.
Jay have a Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends. After watching this video I'm going to have to go back and watch the first one again. And for me that's a happy accident lol.
Nice job Jay
Where did you buy those stones? I got something very similar looking and that is Alabaster stone. Awesome project anyway and great use of that shooting board!
Stone is perhaps Alabaster, which can be carved and dyed, see for example: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabaster What ever it looks fabulous and so right to keep the beautiful wood grain for the base.
loved it!! I never learned how to play, but my son does play. I've been wanting to make one for him.Thank you!!
As you are doing your intro, I can see it in your eyes...."dear God, how many more times do I have to say this!"
Joe Thompson hahahahahaha
I did not know that about the H1 square... Great project, Jay!
Love the vlogs to follow up the videos. Both vids provided good info and content. I think the splines would have looked good too (assuming they would have been hickory). Thank you!
Awesome build and the pieces match perfect. Felt is more to help prevent surface to surface ware damage over time, like the pieces waring on the wood or vise versa , not really just rolling around. But like you said it's unlikely that much damage would happen
Great videos, Jay! You often talk about expansion/contraction and how you account for that, but then I watch other guys like David Picciuto, who frequently says he doesn't consider it to be that big of an issue in most of his projects - especially small ones. I'm trying to figure out just how big of an issue it is - so, I guess I'm wondering if you have any personal examples you can share of projects that have failed because expansion/contraction wasn't accounted for. (It makes sense to me on bigger projects like a table, just curious about the smaller ones.)
There's a lot that goes into play with expansion and contraction. Generally speaking, larger panels (table top) require more allowance for movement because there is a long stretch of material along the direction of expansion and contraction, smaller alternating grain glue joints (rail and stile cabinet door) don't create enough force with wood movement to destroy the joint as the glue has more holding force than the small amount of wood has with expansion and contraction, and thin materials (top veneer on plywoood) don't create enough force with wood movement to cause any damage.
Very nice chess set! you should make a connect 4 game next!
Jay, the board came out absolutely beautiful.
Have a great Thanksgiving.
Love the additional information on this 2nd channel. great job! Would you make the sides a little shorter if you could? I made a board where I had 2 under drawers for the pieces.
I thought about making it shorter but I like the look of the board with the height I chose.
The pale stone is probably Onyx, and the black stone might be soapstone (the black kind not the green/grey kind). Or perhaps a black marble.
Hi Jay, I am so glad you didn't use felt! Your board is perfect.
Where can I find those rules for chess piece geometry?
The chessboard is Awesome! Happy Thanksgiving Jay!
Do you have any plans for the rest of the glue-up from which you cut the veneer? You could probably make another two or three chessboards with that material.
jabrwok I'll make a couple more eventually.
Beautiful beautiful work! I think it is a masterpiece! Are you going to make some more with the rest of your board glue up?
Happy Thanksgiving! Great videos. I see that in older videos you had a 12v impact driver, was that good enough for your projects? Thinking of getting a set but not sure if I need a 18v set
Jay the black stone is most likely sphalerite. It is a mineral that is high in sulfur, the rotten egg smell. Sphalerite is a very important ore in zinc.
Beautiful box by the way.
I agree Jay leaving the splines out was a good choice
Loving the second name Jay
First thought when you were doing the inside was "Why no fel-ohhhh that looks beautiful..."
Lovely board, I really need modern pieces to play with, I struggle with mad looking pieces, even though they look really nice
No wonder you think it looks killer - it's your best piece yet! Simply stunning! I just have one question: Carlsen or Karjakin?
navardal Carlson. I hope the rest of the match gets more exciting though.
Enjoy your mini-holiday =) Thanks for sharing! It is a stunning set of chess =) Both the box and the pieces =)
Hello Jay, congratulations for your work, could you tell me where to buy the planers and saws you use? Thank you
Thanks for a great discussion , are the plans available .
I'm guessing they are most likely soap stone. My dad has a set and when you described how you could scratch then with a finger nail it reminded me of his set.
You should make a Quarto game. It is a nice two player game.
Stunning design
One of his best pieces in my opinion!
I literally said "wow" when I saw it and Wifey came over to see what all the excitement was about :D
You said it!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Sulphur smell? Could be volcanic rock.
Putting a felt liner in this beautiful box would have been a travesty. Now, a leather lining would be a different story...
Looks awesome
Watched this build earlier, makes me want to get back into chess
Are you going to turn your own pieces so they match the board?
good job
Happy Thanksgiving
Jay, any possibility of making a stand or table for the chess board?
Sounds like a good Idea to me.
I wonder if the light stone is soapstone and black being coal?.. easy to carve but hard lasting..and smells when cut into
The smell you describe would be a high sulfur content.
I got alot of comments on my chessboard video about the incorrect set up of the pieces on the h1 square...I had no clue
sdmcustom woodworking :)
Nice chess set
Did you get a new camera yet? Which one did, or are, you deciding to go with?
Joshua Luther no new camera. not sure if I'll get one. I think the camera quit screwing up. I can't seem to reproduce the problem again.
Well, that's good news. Also pretty weird. Hope it doesn't happen again.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING. DON'T EAT TO MUCH .
It's a very beautiful chess board. Is there a possibility to buy it? greetings from Germany :))
Sounds like a Sulphur soapstone.
Sphalerite gives off a sulfury smell when scratched, that's probably what it is from the look of it.
will you make your own chess pieces?
How do I purchase one of those board?
what are you doing with the cutoff from the chess board top? keep it as a cutting board?
I'll use it to resaw more veneer to make more boards.
Beautiful chess board! As for the black pieces, I do know that hydrogen sulfate smells just like rotten eggs, so the stone may be from a high sulfur area. Have a happy Thanksgiving!
Did you just make the Karmadont Chess board?
If it smells like rotten eggs, it's likely to be or at least contain sulfur.
the stone would have a good amount of sulfur in it to make it smell like rotten eggs.
Go Vikings!
i heard ya ;)
I challenge you to a chess match!
That's a real nice chessboard. But I noticed that u try to find 2 many mistakes n your wood work and explain the mistakes. You do fantastic work. So please stop being hard on your self.
Maybe Soap Stone
The smell like rotten eggs could be sulfur
Could you do a board that has more irregular shapes? I think it's too straight.
Круто, очень круто