Making a Walnut and Maple Chess Board Tutorial 

How thick should the wood be

Totally not neccesary

Thank you very much!

Thanks, glad I could help!

How was it??

Thanks so much! Although things don't always go as smoothly as they seem.

@@CalebsFineWoodworking I would like to try this board. Any special instructions?

I don't have too much more to say than to just take your time and make sure things fit together well. Good luck!

Thanks, Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks! I'm sure that will be pretty!

Thanks! I'm glad they could be of help!

Owe man...I wish i could have the materials and the equipment for this...

What are the dimensions of the final project

I made this a year ago it was my first project. ru-vid.comI8rEApg5x1g?feature=share

Thanks, glad you like it!

Glad you liked it!

Thanks! Good luck!

How did you get on?

Thanks!

。

There was a lot of cutting and speed ups so it took a lot longer

@@Marcus-pn1yn I was just joking :)

Thank you!

Thanks! have fun! I haven't tried them before

@@CalebsFineWoodworkingI’ll let you know. I’ve got the strips glued up. Could you rip the strips on table saw or is the sled with stop just better? I’ve got no experience with a sled. For cross cutting the glued up strips?

Thanks!

Thanks!

I don't think that would work; there is a ton of endgrain there, which does not glue well. An idea that would work would be to glue them to a stable substrate, such as baltic birch or 5-ply. A nice benefit is that you could to some pre-finishing, such as adding dyes or stain without having to worry about the finish bleeding into the other species. Good luck!

Thanks! Sorry, I don't have any written plans

Thanks! Hard to say as it depends on how much you spent on materials, how long it takes and ultimately how much you decide your time is worth.

@@CalebsFineWoodworking yeah true. The supplies don't cost much, but the amount of time put into it does

Thanks, I think that actually would work pretty well, Good idea!

It lines up with the pieces visually

I am very curious how it held up i want to make it exactly like this

@@dicekarYes ,that miter joint will open or the board may cup when the solid wood chessboard expands . You will see this border used on sets with veneer with plywood backing board which is more stable.

Thanks! Yeah, it was mainly to keep the overall size a little smaller.

Thanks! I used a Whiteside spiral router bit with a 2 inch cutting capacity, and used 4/4 lumber.

Thank you! The board hasn't had any issues yet but it has been in a pretty stable environment. I would try to design the frame around wood movement next time just to be on the safe side.

How would you go about doing that? ​@@CalebsFineWoodworking

Frame and panel is the best for the movement problem,will also help to prevent cupping of the solid wood chessboard

Glad it could help! I've definitely had experiences like that. That must have been a fun glue up with all those individual squares.

@@CalebsFineWoodworking I was about halfway through and realized I could've done it this way and saved about 45 cuts or so lol. So I ended up redoing it the RIGHT way, and I couldn't be happier. Thanks! The glue up was rough, but it worked! goes to show that there a different ways to tackle something, some more efficent, and others more painstaking, but you can get the same results.

Very true, much of woodworking is learning from yours's and other's mistakes and then improving on what you know. Glad it came out great!

Polyurethane

Pretty sure it's a PVA glue

So far I haven't had any issues. It has been in a stable, low humidity environment the whole time which I'm sure has helped.

Thanks for the info! I suppose that could be a problem, I haven't had any problems yet with a past board made like this but we'll have to see how it holds up.

Glad you're giving woodworking a try! If you don't have a planer or jointer you'll have to find another way to square up your board if you want good joints. If you have a router table you can set that up to joint edges, or build a jig to joint edges on the table saw. Another option would be using a hand plane. There are lots of good videos out there that will be able to explain those methods in detail. Hope this helps and good luck!

Hello, this most likely happened due to the board being made of “new” wood. Once cut from the tree, wood needs to dry out before it can be made into a stable project, this can take years. Moisture inside of finished wood pieces can cause movement as the moisture dries out, like swelling, cupping, twisting, and cracking. The temperature changes in your room are only expediting the process, however if the wood were already dry it would not matter. In order to fill the cracks you can use wood glue with some sawdust of matching color. Avoid using CA glue or epoxy as these glues are very hard and brittle and will cause more cracks to form as your piece continues to dry out. Have patience and good luck! (Source: I make and restore violin bows)

I don't know much of the science behind how the two different woods will move. I haven't had any problems yet but that's not to say they won't move some in the future. As for using end grain, you can do that using the same process but you will want to make sure you make the boarder from the endgrain as well. this will help to prevent as much cracking from wood movement.

@@CalebsFineWoodworking Thank you! Got it.

Glad it helped!

Yeah, I used 4/4 wood which is just under an inch at 15/16ths. Good luck on the board!

I was wondering the same thing. He cuts it though to 1 3/4in and it put together the board should be 14in (Not counting the edges)

I used 4/4 lumber which measures 15/16th inches.

That wouldn't be a chess board.

Thanks!

Good luck!

Yeah, ideally you build in a way that accounts for wood movement. I realized that after building this one. I haven't had any problems with this board, or one that I made around two years ago. I'm not sure how long it would take for it to become a problem. Maybe I will do a video on that in the future. Good luck on your board!

Maybe if it stays inside in an air-conditioned/heated space, and if you don’t live somewhere too humid, it won’t have any problems? 🤷‍♂️ I live in Utah and it’s bone-dry here all the time, so I bet it wouldn’t be much of a problem.

Dowels in the side of the the framing mitre jointed pieces should hold the lot together well.