want to make a chessboard

[El Rago]

Today at the local flea market I found and purchased a chess set. While the pieces themselves are in great detail (chirstians vs Moorish, regular theme in old spain), the board itself is just printed on the back of the (otherwise) nice box. The plan is to make a better looking one. My initial plan is to make them out of crushed stone, mother-of-pearl crushed shells for white and a yet to define crushed black stone for the black squares, maybe some left over marble.

lacking somewhat in material knowledge I have heard that there is some sort of clear coat resin that hardens like a plastic. So, the general idea is to make a frame, set guides so I can make the 64 squares, fill each square with the crushed stone and pour that resin to make everything set.

If all else fails, I can always make it out of wood, and since I have acess to both a welding and carpenter shop, I could take an easier way out. get different types of wood and varnish to make the squares.

any advice, ideas, am I just talking out of my @@$?

[edcgear]

stick with original idea and go with stone...

[Gareth]

I made a chessboard from wood while I was at school (just realised it was 20 years ago  ) but i think your stone idea sounds more interesting.

[El Rago]

of course the stone idea is better, but I still dont know what to use for "setting" the crushed materials. I need some sort of transparent cement (plastic?).

The base can be done from a thick wooden panel, the sides will be made from rounded angled framing wood, and the guides (the square separators) can be made out of brass to contain the crushed stone while I pour the plastic stuff.

so much thinking to do...

[82brutus]

There is a clear poly resin that I used once for making a paperweight.  It was easy to use but the end product was pretty heavy.  Just googled poly resin paperweight and found some generic stuff found at a hardware store and a ehow article.  Maybe someone with more knowledge will answer soon.

Martin

[jerseydevil]

There is a product called Aristocrat that would probably work. I've seen it used mostly for bar tops, but it can also be used as a high-gloss epoxy coating for other items. If I remember correctly, it can be applied up to 1/2" thick (in multiple thin coats) without worrying about yellowing. It's an item that we keep in stock in my store, I'll see what else I can find out and see if it would be the right product for your project.

[El Rago]

tnx Jersey, thats what I was looking for, I will take a look and see what I can find here. The thickness wont be an issue, as I dont plan to make the board too thick due to possible limitations on adquiring the stone materials

Brutus, belive me, I dont mind the weight, besides, dont you think the crushed stone will be heavy on its onw already?

I do come to realize, that the pieces are not antiques, while nicely made, they are magazine collectibles. too bad, but I cant complain, as for 20€, it was cheap nontheless. I decided to put some pics too, but some spanish members might recognize it:


the whole set


detail of the kings


the horses


back of the box (pic 1) with pawns and skeletool

I want to make the board a bit bigger, but not too big, as the small pieces will look even smaller on big squares.

tnx for the imput, guys.