Mike, Third board from you, and each is as lovely as the other although the woods on this one really stand out. No one should lose sleep over a joint, but I suppose that's why you do such amazing work :) I loved watching this video and knowing this was at home being showcased as the artwork that it is. The purpleheart really makes the padouk pieces pop, which was the plan. Thanks again and when I dream up something else, I'll give you a ring! For those who don't know, Mike is as easy to work with as he is a talented artist. Stay cool. The Client in Texas.
the"cocobolo" is Definitely bocote.i can't believe an exotic wood dealer made such an obvious mistake. bocote is less expensive then cocobolo as well.(very nice chess board...as usual ✌️)
Wow, absolutely beautiful. And to think of the hundreds and hundreds of games that will be played and a board that hopefully will be passed down for generations and generations.
Loved watching that board come together, those joints were fascinating. What a piece of art! I realized a new life goal is to have enough disposable income to have Mike make me a high-end chess board. Absolutely stunning finished product.
I like the narration. Especially when he says the epoxy cured and I will run it through the drum sander. And then does, I was on the edge of my seat for that scene.
I would love to come spend a week with you at your shop to soak up some wood working knowledge. I have many tools at my disposal but very limited time to play around with ideas. As always, you truly inspires me to get out in my garage and start using my tools. Thanks!!!
Holy cow, that's an amazing board. I was;t sure there was enough contrast between light and dark squares at the start, but it turned out beautifully. Wow. And the joinery and precision, really impressive.
Terrific craftsmanship and an amazing design. The addition of the Ebony really enhances the beauty of the woods selected. A masterpiece chessboard.The Cocobolo wood has the appearance of exotic Bocote wood with its grain pattern and yellow hue. Both woods are quite expensive and you have chosen excellent contrasting wood species.
What a stunning piece with exquisite craftsmanship. Being a DIY woodworker, I know it is really precision work and a lot o patience to get those pieces to come together like "TAJ MAHAL". BTW, I was hoping you would make a comment on the CHESSMEN but I guess they were commercially made? They are equally beautiful and perhaps authentic official tournament grades.
I'm just a begginer. This is my first time working with exotic woods and making a chess board has been something I've always wanted to do. Your channel gives me plenty of ideas and I'm currently in the glue up stage of my first hardwood chessboard. Where I live these woods are very expensive so I measure 10 times and cut once. I'm currently looking for a wooden set of pieces for a 2" square and I want a nicely detailed Knight. The set I commented on is quite beautiful. So many are poorly made these days as if the carver had never seen a horse before. 🙂Anyhow sorry for the ramble, I love your work. Be safe and wish me luck. @@Woodumakeit
Big fan of your work ! I have a jointer ,a planer numerous sanding devices but no drum sander and frankly no more room for one..any advice on how to get a good finish on my work
If you have a belt sander, that could be helpful, but you'd need to be careful that you don't leave it in one spot for too long. A random orbital sander would work too. It just takes longer to get the surfaces flat and smooth.
Inspired by your work, I have made a couple of chessboards for my daughters - one with Cocobolo and bird’s eye maple with a walnut frame. My first finishing attempt failed because of oil that seeped out of the Cocobolo (even though the wood was twenty years old) so I had to sand it again. The 2nd time, I rubbed it all down with acetone, put on 2 coats of sanding sealer and four coats of lacquer and it came out beautifully. I made mine as gifts, but I’m really curious what you charged for this board. Not only is your craftsmanship superb, but the maple Burl and the Cocobolo are very expensive, to say nothing about the ebony.
I'm not sure where those pieces came from. They belong to another client and he sent them to me so that I can refinish them for him. That was almost a year ago.....Thankfully he's very patient. I really need to work on getting them refinished.
Simply BEAUTIFUL. I have been watching your videos for a few years, some 0f them multiple times. One day,.... "ONE DAY" lol, I will make a board for myself. GREAT work.
I love watching your craftsmanship!!! For some reason, I am mesmerized by woodworking an chess boards, when I have no such talent in any of those areas and cannot be trusted slicing a cucumber with a knive, let alone being around sawing machines..... Yet, my great-grandfather was a carpenter and maybe i inherited just the fascination with wood from him. For the greater good of the world, I will tame my enthousiasm to try any woodworking myself.
I’d make it….if I was confident about my miter joints, which I’m not. Good ol’ loose tenon butt joints will suffice for me. Jesus, I hate master crafters sometimes. I really don’t do this often, but I have to give this a thumbs up and subscribe.
Beautiful workmanship. Curious why you put the chess pattern on both sides unless the customer requested it. For the bottom, a simple cherry or walnut veneer would have looked good, and saved the burl and cocobolo for another piece. For me, the cocobolo was a little too busy, and took away from the burl, but it was still beautiful, and so well-made. I really enjoy watching these builds, they are inspiring. Thanks again for doing this.
I like to put the chess squares on both sides to give it a higher end look. Some clients take advantage of that if I put algebraic notation on one side so they can flip it over and play without the notation if they want. It's almost the same amount of work to put veneer on the bottom side, but you're right that it would have saved the nice wood for another board.
Interesting choice of woods. I have collection of boards some I like more than others. Have a dream board I wish to have made from one specific wood that is extremely rare that I won’t share here in this post. Just wondering if you have what it takes to find this wood to make the board of my dreams. MTM Woods has used this wood in the past.
Mike, that miter/bridle joint was pretty complex joinery! Does the purpleheart require any special treatment to maintain its color? The maple burl has beautiful grain but I find in turning bowls with any type of burl that the internal voids and bark inclusions can make working with this material rather difficult. Your use of epoxy was a great way to handle the voids. As always, a great looking chessboard!
Thanks, Paul. The purpleheart will darken over time with exposure to UV light. The same thing happens with bloodwood and padauk. There's not really anything that can be done to prevent it.
Absolutely stunning piece of craftmanship; never get bored/board of watching these videos. Bit of a crude question but how much would this cost? It must take several days to make a board presumably and a man of such skill would rightly charge a fair price.
Plywood is more stable than solid hardwood, so it helps to reduce seasonal wood movement when the squares are glued onto it. It also helps lower the cost because less hardwood is required.
I might have added ebony to the boarder with the purple heart. It is still one awesome board. All of your craftsmanship showes every time you post a video. Well done sir. By the way i would make it
I use plywood because I usually have lots of leftover pieces from cabinets I've made. It's also easier to get in varying thicknesses if I need the board to be thinner or thicker. Another consideration is that MDF is heavier, so it increases the shipping cost which is highly dependent on weight. I'm pretty sure MDF would be fine as a substrate, though.
@@Woodumakeit Thank you for the detailed explanation. I appreciate that. You do beautiful work, by the way, thanks for putting out all the great content!
I almost always use 100-grit, but I have sometimes used 120-grit. I try to make the sanding belt last as long as I can by taking very shallow passes, but eventually it clogs up and I have to replace it. Maple with its sap and a lot of the oily exotic woods are what shorten the life of the sanding belt.
Did you use the bandsaw instead of the table saw because of the thinner blade kerf? And does that end up saving you anything considering that you have to re-joint between cuts?
I used to do everything on the table saw, but now I like to do my first cuts on the bandsaw because it puts less strain on the motor with such a thin kerf, and then I do the final cuts on the table saw. I'd like to believe that the thinner kerf saves on material, but I doubt that it does because the cut on a bandsaw is a little rough, so it needs to be cleaned up on the jointer and/or table saw afterwards.
@@Woodumakeit It really is! I mean metric is so standardized and so easy to convert, from 1D to 2D to 3D, the rules stay the same..! It's always multiples of 10..! o.O edit: and yes, that chessboard is amazing
Very beautiful. I’d have to use something other than oak for the border because my wife is anti-oak. Otherwise I could see replicating it. Did you make the chess pieces or buy them?
Those pieces are on loan from another client who wants me to refinish them for him. I don't think I'm skilled enough to make pieces this nice, but I do have to make a set for a client in the near future.
beautiful looking piece. but could you please explain why you made the different sides different thicknesses. i was expecting the thicker side to be proud of the frame.
I cut them that way in anticipation of the client wanting the top side to be proud of the frame like in the photo that he had sent me, but after consulting with him, he said that he wanted both sides flush with the frame, so I adapted by changing the position of the groove in the frame so that both sides would be flush.
The grain and color of this piece of cocobolo does resemble wenge, but it's denser and not quite as fibrous as wenge. You're probably right that the color depends on where it comes from.
