I am a chess player and I think I understand what a chess player desires in a chess board. There are two standard square sizes 2.25” USCF standard and the 50mm world FIDE standard. I like 50mm with broad margins for captured peices for analysis but prefer 2.25" for speed chess. I personally like wood grains horizontal with white on the right of course. I have reduced the overall size to 22” on many boards so they can be carried under arm. It is with these standards in mind that I started crafting chess boards some fourty years ago and the project continues.
In 1969 after being in a bad vehicle accident I decided to busy this slack time with some simple light weight activity and I started building chess boards. I had only one major power tool at the the time an industrial 10,000 rpm Rockwell mini router. So the whole project was designed around this piece hardware. Both of my routers long ago died so in this newest endeavor (2011.11.5-present) I am designing the project around the table saw, radial arm saw and more recently a new industrial band saw. I feel the quality is improving all the time but it is a craft project and has all the individuality of that kind of work. No two of my boards are alike.
All my original boards were made with Veneer 1/28" the standard dimension is now 1/40" ( .025) making construction difficult and surface less resistant to damage. I wanted a board which would be more durable and allow for refinishing if necessary. In 2011 I initiated a new construction method with all the marquetry ¼ “ rather than 1/40 “ veneer. I had 2 – 2” planks of butternut and curly maple from trees I cut in the 1970's. I had cut the rough planks on a band mill and after seasoning for several years in my attic I took them to a cabinet shop in 1990's and had them planed. This provided the materials for my fist experiments in 2011. Unfortunatly ¼ marquetry has the drawback that 8pc matches are much more difficult because the book matches are fine but where 1 meets 8 you have traveled through almost 3” of wood and sometimes there is a significant change in grain pattern. I endeavor to hide this sometime more successfully than others. Some of the recent run I feel are the best boards I have ever made in this respect.
In Feb 2012 I took down several trees walnut, maple, ash, and butternut. By creating product from the log it allows me to cut my stock in ways that would never be available in the wood from the standard lumber trade. Since all the wood is reduced to 1/4" thicknesses the drying time is reduced from years to weeks. I am now getting the first product from these new logs. I first did some very generic boards to test my procedures and as time goes on I am becoming more adventurous. The most recent run of four (I now have twenty some 2012.08) boards from these logs I feel are quite good. The purchase of a Grizzly industrial band saw has enabled me to do things that I could not do prior to this.