Making a Chess Board and All of Its Pieces - Including the Horse, the Castle, and the Pointy One! 

We get a lot of comments on this video about Shaun referring to the pieces as "the Horse, the Castle, and the Pointy One". Some people think he is serious (probably a vocal minority)... well let me just clear the air. He 100% thinks they are called the Horse, the Castle, and the Pointy One. I haven't had the heart to correct him, and all of your commenting won't help as he can't read, and doesn't know how to operate a computer. For the record, he also refers to the Queen, King, and Pawns, as the Mom, the Dad, and the Babies respectively.

Drilling out the bottoms of the pieces and glueing in a lead weight would be a cool addition.

That smirk when you were about to say to "Chess I can" was priceless.

"the horse, the castle, and the pointy one." someone help this dude

Shaun just listing off things to set on the edge made my day, no idea why, but it was great.

I love the stylized pieces. Instantly recognizable as exactly which ones they are but not over designed. I wish I could buy them somewhere they would go well with most any board.

"chess I can" this dad joke is comedy gold

Love the video and the chess set. My 6 year old says he knows this will be his "next" project, though I'll let you know, it'd be his first. He was really inspired by this build.

that is really nice work!

I've always wanted to make a board specifically to make the pieces on the lathe, but I love the design of yours. Very cool.

5:14 My friend and I like to declare it is indeed "thickni"

Great video! This couldn’t be better timing as I just finished The Queen’s Gambit and I’m ready to make a chess board.

wow, man! This is just awesome! I wish I had a workshop like yours. Mine is small and I work the few basic tools I have. I can make nice stuff but make something like this is not for me. Well done man, I have watched this video with much admiration.

This is really beautiful. Gives me hope I can one day do one. The complicated turning of many sets intimidates me and I don’t have a lathe. This is on the future projects list for sure. Thanks.

This is so beautiful. It looks ancient yet futuristic.

Excellent idea with squared pieces! Very nice contrast.. beautiful looking board. Chess, lad's!

Hello! When I saw your movie, I smiled 🙂 we made chessboards at the same time! Mine is simple - I have a son (3.5 years). It's a gift for him.... I prefer round figures, but yours are cool too. Good idea - where to hide the figures! Greetings from Poland! Paul

I bought this as a gift for my friend ru-vid.comUgkxcZqgZ8Ynkiz5n_LxIWRlAicuzmz5kCHG who is just starting out in the world of wood work. He loves it!! There is a great section on different wood and what to use for what kind of job and a similar section for tools as well. The projects in it are things you probably would have a go at with clear instructions, pictures, videos and diagrams throughout. Great for a beginner/amateur wood worker.

It's a beautiful work, but as a chess player I've always had troubles "adapting" to these modern pieces shapes. The board in itself and the compartment for the pieces is AWESOME ! But more "classical type" pieces would have been my personal choice for sure.

I want this chess set! Absolutely love the aesthetic of it. How much would you charge for a set just like it?

First video I've ever seen if this guy, and did not anticipated the pun right at the beginning. Needless to say, I instantly liked.

Is this for sale? Because I would definitely like to purchase one. It's absolutely incredible! Amazing craftsmanship.

you should make an extra queen for each side since chess has a thing called promotion. a pawn can be promoted to anything but usually a queen if it reaches the other side of the board

"the horse, the castle and the pointy one" *bruh*

that is the cleanest chess set i have ever seen

They look amazing, They would be even better thank to their simplicity if they would be painted in a glossy black and white

the box is game changing

the fact that he called it a horse, pointy one, and castle just makes me wanna die

as a chess player, I can confirm that we call those pieces, horse, castle, pointy one, dad, mom, and baby

IM GETTING TRIGGERED "the horse, the castle, and the pointy one"

the piece designs are really. cool

Amazing job man, it looks beautiful. my next project is a chess board and am looking for ideas and techniques so you’ve definitely helped a little, am getting better at building and video making as my channels pretty new. Nice though

if you put a center divider in the middle of the box you can fill it with wooden disks for checkers

Really a beautiful piece of work, Shawn. What about the rule we're always preached about veneering both sides of a board or it will warp? Looks like you guys are always breaking the rules. It also looked like you were channelling Chris at scrapsketball again, especially at the beginning.

Pretty clever to make the pieces with the table saw. I like using the pencil to hold those small parts, I am going to adopt that technique. Nice video thanks.

Seriously Fan Girl crushing on Shaun 🤭🤭🤭. That cheeky grin 😊😌🤭

Gotta love that clamp😂

I've been planning to do a group project with some friends on making a chess board so I wanted to watch this to get an idea and some inspiration and this video was amazing and the end result was also very good.

I think pieces could have small magnets under them hidden with a thin sheet of wood and board could have similar sized magnets only under the center of the squares, or pieces could have weights

Doctor: Oversimplifed chess pieces don't exist. They can't hurt you. Oversimplified chess pieces:

What you could set on the ledge: a chess clock and spare queens in case either player promotes while they already have a queen on the board. (Yes, I know it’s possible to promote to any officer, but it’s usually only done if a queen would lead to a stalemate.)

You should put velvet or so kind of cloth material on the bottoms of the chess pieces so the board will last longer and get less scratches on it

Lol! The kid part hilarious 😂 ❤❗️

cool addition might be a hollow center on the pieces to add some weight to it

Very relaxing to watch, man I wish I had some of these tools. I tried wood working with a skilsaw and let’s just say, you can’t trust the base plate to miter with. Oh yea COVID jacked lumber up so my coat hanger is just noticeably imperfect lol

Ingot a tip for the chess pieces, weighted ball bearings in the bottle to weigh them a bit

This is truly a beautiful chess set....

awesome job, but how many people have access to your type of equipment?

that joke at the beginning just won you a subscriber friend haha

ok this design is actually genius. job well done!

This is the first of your videos that I’ve seen and I had already subscribed by the time you had said the chess pun

I agree with the choice of 2 inches, The international standard for high level tournaments is 2,2 inches But most people find them a bit too big. So 2 is perhaos the most Universal dimension you could choose

That piece design was spectacular 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

Can I copy everything you do, because whatever you design is amazing

That check mate was op Lol😂😂

looks really nice, but a teeny tiny critique as someone who plays chess as a hobby would be for the efficiency of the pieces. They’re quite tall and so their center of gravity is also elevated which makes them easy to accidentally knock over, putting lead or something else in the bottom of the pieces to weigh them down would be useful

This board and pieces are bad ass. My only comment, and I do so in aim of improving your chess set-- I'll be those pieces are tippy as hell! Somehow incorporate a counterweight to the bottom of each of the pieces to help them not to fall over and ruin a game. "Where was this piece? Where did that piece go? Oh darn it!" Sweet board and wood working though. Wish I had those skills.

Very nice! I know you may not play chess, but they are called Knights, not horses. In fact the first iteration of chess these were called Fil, (like feel) which is elephant in Farsi, and Arabic languages. But after the Arabs conquered Spain and brought chess to the European continent that the shape of the horse appears. The Staunton “shape” is the world’s standardized chess set. Maybe you can see if you can build one to specs. But I did enjoy watching you build that chess board, and I would tell your friend to act in a sportsmanship way and let you finish your video BEFORE jumping into a checkmate position! Thanks for making this video.

So what’s happened to Sean? Has he been christened?

I like how simple and blocky the pieces are :)

Wooow this is briljant.Can you tell me how big the pawns and pieces are? Can you tell me how big the pawns and pieces are?

It's just 'thickness' like Sheep and Sheep... The real question is Rabbit or Rebate!. Great build, tear came to my eye when you turned 2/3 of that board to planning's even though it had to be done for stability, lol

That looks beautiful!!!

I appreciate the simplistic style of your pieces.

Amazing work. If u plan in doing that again and selling it, I’d be interested.

There is a board game called Cathedral that i would love to see made by craftsman such as yourself.

Beautiful build and chessboard! Love the simple pieces, and how easy it is to tell which piece they represent. Great design!

f*cking fantastic build. creative yet classy, simple but elegant.

Ahh yes i love the pointy one

Nice to see another chessboard, I will say, your original board is how I found your channel when I was researching how to build mine, so we have come full circle :)

I really want to play with this set.

Awesome design

What an interesting but great way to make an amazing chess set. Just made a board and would love to make a set. Have subscribed and will watch more of your videos. Regards James One Handed Maker - Australia

> Hey, what piece is that? > "I have no f**king idea"

I setup a jig on my table saw to cut the bishop because I didn't have a bandsaw at all or tall enough to make chessboard veneer

pure artistry, you're a clever guy.

I love this!!!! If you ever have an extra laying around and need to find it a home 🏡 I would be happy to make it a forever parent ❤🥄

Amazing wood work... nice finishing.. I will love to have such chessboard.. Really fantastic work and creativity u did.. Good bless you..

very cool design

very nicely done, thank you for sharing that. I like the simple, clean design of the pieces, almost a Bauhaus style.

It's like how mumbo jumbo thought sus meant sustainable, and worked with it. This guy, said it was the "Pointy One", but the Horse and Castle I can accept. He also worked with it, too.

LOL, the pointy one! There is one like that in Moskou.

About two weeks ago I made a chessboard out of African blackwood and maple, I glued it to mdf very similar to how you did in the video put weight on it for two days and let it rest for a couple days after the weights were off and it cupped to the point of no return

not a fan of the geometric pieces but the chess board itself im in love

He sacrificed the name of THE ROOOOOK, and then THE KNIIIGGGHHHTTTT, and finally, THE BISHOOOPPP

Those festool guys really use it for everything!

everything about this video is perfect except the “chess i can” lmao

This set could only be used for home or office purely because of the design. I know this wasnt optimized for tournaments and stuff but just wanna explain why. There are a couple of things that tournament grade sets have that this one doesnt that makes it really bad for tournaments. *Design* Sure, it's simplistic and aesthetic and all, but the reason chess sets are not simplistic is the distinguishability between the pieces. You're gonna wanna tell the pieces apart like for example the king and the queen. Here I'm assuming the tallest piece in the set is the king. An important distinguishing feature of the king is it's cross and height. I initially thought that that piece was the queen because of it's spiky crown. *Ergonomics* Tournament pieces have a large, heavy, and matted base to keep it from tipping over so easily. The pieces are also minimized such that it's center of mass is low to also keep it from tipping over. The pieces in this set are symmetric in every dimension therefore keeping it's center mass squarely at the center of the piece, making it prone to tipping over. In order for a piece to tip over, it's center of mass must reach over the line of the piece's base. A higher center of mass would create greater leverage for the center of mass to go over the base. The matted base creates friction with the board so that the pieces don't slide around. ("tipping over" counter: 4) The head of the piece, which mainly distinguishes them, also plays a role in ergonomics of the set. The heads make it easy to pick the pieces up when moving them.

Great video, I love the simple aesthetics :) PS: Are you a Jazz fan ??

Amazing project, all I have to say is how saw it feels to see so much wood being wasted to make the thin top board

10/10 chess set 👍👍

You should make a clock for this set, you can put some magnets on the left border of the board that can handle the clock

loved the chessboard build! and the video! can I ask what background track that is? sounds awesome

I'll propose these Piece Naming changes... Horse = Knight piece Tower = Rook piece "The Pointy One" = Bishop piece

This make me want to learn carpentry, I've done a lot of drawing in scale so maybe some type of drafting course would be nice.

1:13 yes.

I liked the original board edge a lot more. It just looked so much more elegant

I love it very much

It's beautiful. Well done. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

The position in the end was in fact an actual ladder checkmate.