Woodturning a Modern Chess Set
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- In this video I am woodturning a modern chess set out of hickory. The design was inspired by French artist Yves Tanguy who created his well-known design in the late 1930s. These pieces are intended to fit on the regulation size, end-grain chess board that I made that has individual squares that are 2 ¼” x 2 ¼”.
I was hoping that the hickory would have been dense/heavy enough for the pieces, but they just didn’t feel right, so I ended up adding some lead weights into the bottom of each piece. I also show you how to apply felt to the bottoms of the pieces.
General guidelines for how I sized the pieces:
1) The base of the king should have a diameter that is about 75% of the width of a square on the chess board.
2) The height of the king should be in the range of 2 - 2.5 times the diameter of the base
3) The base of the pawn should be sized to be able to comfortably fit four pawns onto a square on the chess board.
I’ve seen some modern chess sets that have some ambiguity when it comes to identifying the pieces, so I tried to incorporate aspects into my design to make it clear what each piece is without have to compare with another piece to figure it out.
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Absolutely beautiful!!! I would make it if I can tell my wife we have to take a vacation down South ( that’s mandatory) for this chess set... Going to be tough since I don’t know how to play chess lol. Awesome work on the chessboard and all the pieces. Take care
A vacation down south is definitely an integral part of the project. Don't skip that part! I'm sure you can watch a UA-cam video and be an expert chess player in no time. 🙂
I don't think ull be an expert that quick but I swear one of the easiest and most satisfying games out there... All u need is half a brain
@12:13 bishop in hindi is not घोड़ा , it is actually ऊंठ and @12:54 knight in hindi is not ऊंठ it is actually घोड़ा .
🇿🇦South Africa has no plans and no more for all things to be a game that they will have a game in game and watch it really bad game in a good way and I need some really really cool game friends
South Australia has not really been bad in a good reason and they aren't good for all of them and not only really really cool
Hats off to you for having the skill and confidence to hand turn each piece by hand and get consistent results. Most hand made wooden chess sets are made in India, and rather than using a turning chisel to shape each piece they use a custom profile tool for each different piece. The profile tool is a small piece of high carbon steel sheet with a "half silhouette" of the piece cut out of it. The profile tool is then used to shape the turning wood, creating an identical profile in one cut. The only pieces that are hand carved are the knights, which is why generally speaking, the more detailed the knights are, the more expensive the chessmen set will be.
Love the design, simple, modern and very stylish.
einverstanden.
and completely useless in practice
@@ekstrapolatoraproksymujacy412 ??
@@rsauve999 Chess pieces have to be EASILY differentiable by shape, these are not. The fact that chess sets on tournaments are standarized and never look like that is for a reason.
@@ekstrapolatoraproksymujacy412 ok, now I understand.
I really enjoyed the running comentary, including the various histories of each piece. Most of all, I appreciated the inclusion of the diagrams and measurements of each piece! Thank you!
Very informative on the history of the chess pieces, Thank you.
Very interesting. I made a set and counterbored the bottom for washers for weight, then poured epoxy over them to seal it. You do an amazing job on all your work. Chessboards are amazing.
Beautiful set. I'm beginning a chessboard and pieces for my young nephew this weekend - he can't wait to get started - and these pieces look to be simple enough that we should be able to get him making some of them on lathe himself. Many thanks!
this guy has done some real hard work making those pieces, appreciated
those chess pieces are elegant in their simplicity and i rather enjoyed listening to you speak of each piece as you made it.
During Wood Shop in 9th grade we made chess boards. Never found pieces for it and it now sits in the mountain house that my father built without power tools. He was a wood shop teacher himself. Maybe I'll finish the board with turned pieces as you did. I was in ninth grade at the time and today I'm 56. Thanks for the motivation.
@Johnny Lee Ours were.
Listening to your commentary while watching you practice your craft so beautifully was a pretty hypnotic experience. Very enjoyable and informative. Thanks.
I watched your projects and all of them was a masterpiece and as a Persian speaker, I can say that you pronounced the word Rukh very well
That's a lovely set, and I really enjoyed the fascinating etymology lesson.
I don’t normally like modern chess pieces, but these are beautiful! Great work.
Wood Turning class,, History & Language!
This has been one of the most interesting videos I've seen yet!
I like your version over the Tanguy set. Less ambiguous while retaining the minimalist appearance. Your design has the added benefit that it could be made quick and cheap with pine, or lovingly with ash and black walnut. Well done.
I made a chess for a school project when I was in ninthed grade. Back then I used veneer for the board. the black squares and figures were made out of dark walnut wood and the white parts out of acorn. I regret that descison a little due to the fact that the acorn formed black spots while turning it. To be fair, it was my first time turning wood and I somtimes put to muche pressure on whiche burned the wood. Also I think that acorn is a fast growing wood and not as hard and sterdy as walnut, alltough I cant say that for sure. Aslo the veneer made a few problems, because I had to work very exact and every mistake would end in repeating the process. But in the end I can really reccomend to try it yourselfs. I have learned alot in the process and when somone whants to play chess I can proudly present my handmade board.
Sorry for the spelling btw, I am not a nativ speaker.
I’d bypass the gel stain and, like you said, either use a contrasting wood or switch to something more penetrating, oil stain or even a good wood dye. Had a maple set once whose dark colors were dyed a bright blue. Very pretty.
I really love the modern lines of this design, and I think I would make this set, but I would shape the head pieces of the knights to be less angular and have more of the sweeping curves of the rest of the set. Well done! Your precision is admirable!
I agree, I think the set is beautiful but the heads of the knights look inconsistent with the rest of the set. The knight is always a bit tricky in chess, as it's the only piece that isn't rotationally symmetrical and is clearly meant to be a model of something (it's clearly a horse, whereas the other pieces only vaguely suggest a human form or a tower).
In german language we have. König=king, Dame=Queen (Lady), Bishop=Läufer (runner), Rook=Turm (tower), Knight=Springer (Jumper) and a Pawn ist a Bauer (farmer or something like that). Very great work. I would buy it. :)
Turning a chess set is definitely a bucket list item, nice video!
Love that you explained the history of the pieces. I've wondered about the origins of them so this was great.
Relative to the other pieces the rook makes no sense. A castle is stationary. A chariot or a boat make a lot more sense. This was great.
I made a set years ago when I was in high school using Osage orange and black walnut two very dense woods with strikingly contrasting colors, it turned out awesome!
Wonderfully done and very finely crafted. Thanks for making these 15min enjoyable!
Wow one of the most beautiful and relaxing videos I’ve seen, its truly great 👍🏻
Fantastic, idea! Thank you for the instructions, dimensions, etc. Really enjoyed learning the history of all the different pieces. One day, I'll share with you the set that I have created! Until then.. cheers!
A lovely, stylish set, I'm going to have a go at making it. Thanks for sharing it with us.
I'm a chess set snob. I like Staunton designs. But I have to say you've got a nice design here, there's an elegant simplicity to it.
A buddy just gave me a lathe. I think I’m gonna these as one of my first projects. So yes, I wood make this. Thanks for sharing!
Absolutely MESMERIZING video. Truly a master of the craft, this is art!!!
your doing a great work... also teaching some new words... amazing video
What a Beautiful design! I love how sober and stylish it is 😍
Thanks for the little language excursion. Very interesting! And nice work :)
Great video! Will be making :) Was skeptical of the horse, but it finished and matches the set very well! Love it.
Great video! The set is growing on me the more I stare at it. At the very least it's utilitarian, which I didn't expect. I still think I'd put some kind of top on the king, probably just a small cylinder, and something to make the queen stand out, maybe a dome top. I'm also not sold on the knights at all, though they came out better than I'd expected. I think maybe something with kind of an S profile would fit the theme, and all in one piece rather than pieced together. The bishops, rooks, and pawns are great, and the etymology lesson was an especially nice touch!
I love your work Sir this Chess board its beautiful
Really enjoyed this video Mike.👍 Informative and inspirational.🙂
What a beautiful chess set you have there! Well done!
To add weight to some chess pieces I made, I used a large bolt in each one. Worked perfectly and added a nice heft to each piece. Looks fantastic btw!
what a beautiful set
Was watching some of your other videos and realized you’re the person who made this video, so I wanted to come by this video and thank you for this video if I hadn’t already. I’m making a unique chessboard for myself and wanted the pieces to match the board but I don’t think I would’ve been able to make a nice looking set if I hadn’t found this video. It’s been about a year since I made the pieces and I still love them. Though, I did modify the knight so it looks more like a horse.
firsrt time i watched this i thot elegant... this time i think those horses could be better... while staying in line wth the simplistic design
Wonderful looking chess set, and like others I really enjoyed the history lesson too! I play a bit, so to see such a nice set created from scratch is a real treat
Thanks very much for this video! Excellent job on the production and the project itself! I also enjoyed the commentary on the naming of the pieces.
And thanks for including shots with the dimensions of the pieces. Since I clipped those out for possible future review, i'll go ahead and list the times for each in case anyone else wants an easier way to quickly find those parts:
Pawn (2:39), Rook (7:03), Knight (5:35), Bishop (4:29), Queen (7:41), King (9:36).
Thank you for taking the time to do that! If anyone wants a diagram with the dimensions, just email me at woodumakeit@gmail.com and I'll reply back with the file.
Many thanks. I would love to do it. Please send dimensions etc@@Woodumakeit
Very nice work. Loved the elegance you brought to the set.
I would have liked if the felt was stuck after a small depression was made on the base so that the felt is not visible.
Verry nice work the pices look sharp and clean
U wood turners make it look so easy. lol. one day I might b good as u guys. thanks.
Very cool design. I like it alot. Thanks for showing how you made the set.
You mixed the names of knight and bishop in hindi. A knight is called "Ghoda" and a bishop is called "oont".
I've always known the bishop as a haati though
@@nasifurrahman2641 haati is rook
@@nasifurrahman2641 haati means elephant
@@phoenix4193 i know haati is an elephant. Where I'm from the bishops are called haati and the rook is called kisti which either means boat or tower
@@nasifurrahman2641 @PHOENIX You are both right, in Chaturanga, Bishops were called Gaja, and rooks were Raths, when Chaturanga went to Persia and became Shatranj, the Persian word for chariot was Rukh. The Persian army didn't use elephants but they used camels so the Bishop was called Camel. When the Persians introduced Shatranj to the Mughals, they didn't use chariots, but had seen elephants in India, so the rook became the elephant piece. The current representation of the rook is the howdah on the elephant
Amazingly wonderful. Thanks for the very well made video.
This video is my favourite chess making video
Mike great Video love the history lesson, cool background to pass the time well done!
Wow. i'm from Damietta and if you know most of people of this city are carpenters and i would say from my experience that is well made job you are artist
Fantastic! Mad skills. I want to buy a lathe now. Loved it at school and I imagine they’re a lot more compact now than the ones I remember. I’d take your advice if you offered it but I ain’t gonna bug you with “what should I do” questions. Thanks for the vid. Quality inspiring work. 🙏
Happy to answer any questions. You can email me at woodumakeit@gmail.com if there's anything I can help with.
Love it, and so thankful for all the explanation.
Thanks for the link. Interesting "modern" design. Everything looks fairly recognisable to what the pieces usually are, but the knights are definitely somewhat different, but cool looking all at the same time. Neat looking set.
Great job. As my skin tends to stain relatively easily, I believe I would have to wear gloves while messing with the black stain, but yeah, I think I'd make those.
Really good work. Although the pieces look similar, they are smooth in form. I'm 50/50 on the pieces. Cool work.
Enjoyed your video, and a nice and somewhat different design of chess piece...👍🏻
WOULD I make it? You bet! COULD I make it? He-e-e-eck no! Very much enjoyed the information that you wove into the video.
You have correctly referred to Bishop being called a camel in Hindi, however, the Hindi script at 3:55 writes it as "Ghoda" which is a Horse (Knight.) And at 5:05, the Hindi script for Knight is written as "Oonth", which is in fact, the camel. So I think you got those two mixed.
And interestingly, even through the Rook is called a "Hathi" (or Elephant) in Hindi, the Hindi word for chariot is "Rath" which is very close to the Persian word as well.
This is so elegant. And yes, I wood make it if ever i have the money and tools
This video is so well done
really enjoyedthe video,especially learning about how other languages change the names of the pieces!
If I had the skill, I would definitely make it! Lovely stuff!
Gonna start this tomorrow! Great job and I got an eduction as well
This is stunning work sir I myself am currently working on a chess table. I to have waited pieces in the same fashion. My suggestion is a piece of anti slip shelf liner for holding the pieces while drilling them. Will save the skin on your fingers for sure!
That's a great idea. Thanks! I'm making another set soon, so I'll definitely try that.
Very interesting history of the design. I play a lot, and this design is great for show but not ideal for playing, especially for games where you might walk away for a time, then return to finish. Minimalist designs seldom enhance complex pattern-analysis tasks. People who buy books by the yard will really like this design, so there's a huge market for it.
Very nice chess set. I really like the modern design of the pieces.
In response to your comment on using black stain, I offer the following: Consider using black leather dye to ebonize wood.
Feibings leather dye is alcohol-based and it really penetrates into the wood. It comes in a range of colors, including black, of course. It dries fast and will take any finish. One will get a bit of transfer using shellac, which is also alcohol-based, so apply it with light coats. Further, this dye is reasonably priced, especially in the large 32-ounce containers; small 4-ounce containers are available also. In addition, it appears to last, if sealed, indefinitely. I have had my bottle of this dye for about ten years and I used it as recently as two days ago. Still perfect. (I mention Feibings dye because I have had good luck with it. Comparable products likely will yield equally good results, though I do recommend the professional-grade rather than the craft-grade dyes.)
Finally, an important precaution that I ignored but once: Use gloves when applying this dye. It is meant to dye leather; leather is skin; skin takes dye very, very well. Trust me on this. And though the dye will come off with alcohol and lots of scrubbing, why would we want to make the skin on our hands feel like leather? It is an experience that can and probably should be avoided by using waterproof gloves. So...
Back to the important thing: This is a great chess board and chess set. Well done!
Thanks for sharing another excellent video project.
Thanks, Jerry. That's a great tip. I will definitely give this a try the next time the opportunity arises.
Awesome looking chess set! Great job
Very interesting and informative, love your videos.
Fantastic work. So many videos on UA-cam of people doing shoty work that looks nice now, but will not stand the test of time. This will be around long after all of us.
researching ideas for my own chess set, I found your channel. and you live like an hour away from me. small world! lovely design.
Yes, small world! Thanks for watching.
Wow, really beautiful. Very impressive :)
Wow you done a amazing job on that Chess set.
great video! now i know a lil bit the process and the information too, good job Sir!
Beautiful set!
Some options for the lead fill. If you know someone who reloads his shotgun shells, lead shot is easy to drop in a small hole, or if you can find it, lead wool is very easy to use.
Seems futuristic 👍🏻
Very nice, absolute masterpiece
My goodness, you're very talented.
Very nice work !
Love all the chess info to go along with the lathing!
Love this! Nice work!
Very nice looking set. Simple is fine - rule no. one ;)
Nice Video! I'lll try to honor the teacher (you)! Entertaining and full of nutrients.
it was very intresting to listen! thanks
Nice job on the turnings. It isn't hard to do a single turning, but the trick is to make several pieces exactly the same, as you have done.
When you say say you don't have pieces large enough to suit it (the chessboard you made). But the dimensions of that board fall within the range of an official chessboard, so one can buy official sized pieces winch would perfectly fit. I have them for example. I get the fun of making the pieces of course.
I like the option for nomination in multi language.
Good job I enjoy in this video
You’re good and educating! Very good job
Making it from dark wood would probably have fitted better with the board but still a stunning set with perfect execution. Wood love to have a set like this in the future. :)
Walnut would look nice along with the Hickory. I agree this would look nice too.
Your Persian pronunciation is perfect, as well as your artistic skills. 👍
I've never been so disappointed with the knight's design
the pawn at the end made me like your video, sir 🤣🤣🤣
I really like these modern figures!
Greetings from Germany
Thanks a lot for this awesome video! I am in the process of making a rather unique chessboard and was looking for inspiration for the chess pieces. This vid has given me some great ideas! Thanks again :)
Well I know I’m kinda late but I just watched this video and I think it’s incredible
Really interesting history lesson and linguistics lesson
And also a really good wood turning and wood art lesson
I really liked the final product and can’t wait to make a similar project on my own
Definitely thumbs up
Never too late to provide feedback! Thanks for everything and good luck with your project.
Too simple and beautiful. But with a soul!
It looks great. Only piece I don't like is the queen. I think it would be hard to tell what is what during a game. Maybe giving the queen her signature crown? Love the night though!
Again amazing video I think I will try and make these pieces 👍🏻