A Chavet Project: Re-felting and re-gluing weights.

When Chavet gives you lemons, make lemonade.

I've had this Chavet project on the backburner for a while now. The delay has been due to a combination of not having the time, the materials, and the confidence to proceed. 

I purchased this modern Chavet No.5 set, new, 3 years ago. The quality was garbage. Previous post here: https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/the-current-chavet-sets-are-so-unbelievably-bad-its-comical-enjoy-the-photos

Aside from the leaning pieces, wood knots and poor workmanship. Half the lead weights were loose, straight out of the box, and audibly rattling inside. This was not a 50 year old set. It was a new set from Chavet. Just garbage quality control. If they weren't halfway around the globe, 3500 miles away in France, I would've returned it. It just wasn't feasible to return. Live and learn. 

So here we are 3 years later. Razor blade in hand. LET'S GO!

The glue adhering the felt to the wood base was a gummy type. Not hard like dried white glue. More like a rubber cement(?) It all came off pretty easily, with persistence, a razor blade, and picking at it with my fingernails. The loose weights of course dropped right out when the felt was removed. The other weights were just held in place with friction. None of the weights were glued in. They all came out with a few taps on the table. I guess they didn't use glue.  Oh, Chavet... 

It's interesting to note that Chavet only used 2 sizes of lead weights in my pieces. 6 gram weights for pawns. 13 gram weights for everything else.

Part 1: The Blade

For stubborn loose weights that are rattling but don't want to drop out, bang it out on the edge of a table. These loose weights were just held in there with friction, so just bang away until a fraction of an inch appears. Just enough for some needle nose pliers to get a grip. And yank that puppy out. If it's stuck tight or glued in, well,,, you don't need to get the weight out anyway, so just skip this step and leave it in there. 

Part 2: Things Start Getting Messy
(Coming soon...)

Thanks for posting! Super informative; I've been curious about the construction of their weighted sets.

Beautiful photos and description of the process. I've been waiting for you to do this for what feels like ages now. I can't wait for the gluing.

Thanks Pawnerai! I still have to work on my B210. I’ve been avoiding it entire even though the process seems pretty straightforward, but you know how that goes when things sound easy. I will be waiting to see how yours turns out.

So brave mr. Pawnerai! I like brave people! I remember perfectly the initial threat and was when I fell in love with chavet knights, even when the shown set was the "garbage one". I use bolts to weight my pieces and the weights are exactly the same of yours, 13 and 6 g! so curious.

I wouldn't be surprised if most manufacturers use cheap glue for the weights. So in a way, it's a blessing Chavet weights come off so easily. I've seen someone has to drill to get some of the weights out. I have reglued where needed and refelted almost all my sets. I use kinda expensive glue so this way I know and reassured no loose weights for the next 50 years

By 'when needed' I meant when there are some pieces with loose weights, than I take off all the weights from that set and reglue them.

Oh one more thing, there are several types of glues, there is a type of glue that will become like cement and you don't want that. You want a glue that has some viscosity traits, this to mitigate the expanding and extracting of the woods.

Hey @Pawnerai,

A few things.  I would strongly suggest using cuticle scissors with the curve for cutting the felt. I used Super 88 or Super 90 which is what billiard installers use when putting the felt. Lastly swing by you local billiard spot and see if they'll sell you some off cuts/strips. If you're going into Manhattan this week I have some extra green felt I can give you.  

Very informative thread thanks for posting @pawnerai. @kinetic pawn, solid advice! Cuticle scissors in the cart and next time I'm at the pool hall I'll be asking questions about left over strips. Got a few sets myself that need a little TLC.

This is a set I refelted in a wine color. I didn't clean off the bottoms nearly as well as @Pawnerai did you.  

I was able to buy a roughly 1m x1m strip. I was surprised by how little I used. I literally believe I could refelt 10 sets with the 1m x 1m cloth. 

Spraying one side and then pushing pieces on.  

I let the glue sit for a few hours before cutting. 

Wow @KineticPawn! That looks amazing!

Thanks for the vote of confidence guys. Hah! To be completely honest, I was a bit nervous going into the re-glueing lead weights stage. Having zero experience in this, the chance of fubar was very high. Just do some planning in your head. Get all the materials together in one place... And get to it!

Part 2: The Goop

First off, I cut up an Amazon box into some cardboard strips and slits to make a poor man's drying station. I took some rough grit sandpaper and roughed up the sides of the lead weights a bit so the glue will adhere better. Not sure if this was necessary, but whatever, it can't hurt. Some toothpicks. Paper towels. Cardboard scraps. Leatherman tool with needle-nose pliers. So far it's all stuff I had around the house. Nothing special. I have this glue called Amazing Goop. It dries to a rubbery consistency. Like caulk. Wood, metal, paper, cloth, etc,, "All Purpose. Permanent Bond. Extreme Flex." Sounds ok? Right? If I had a re-do, I would've bought some medium/thick CA glue instead. This Amazing Goop has a tendency to get stringy with annoying glue threads everywhere. 

There is definitely a learning curve. I kind of squirt out a little toothpaste size blob on scrap cardboard and used a toothpick to apply inside the hole. Dropped in the weight. Applied pressure. Move on to the next one. My first few pawns were almost disasters. DO NOT just squirt a dab of glue directly into the hole. You won't be able to control it. And you'll put way too much in there. If you put too much glue, it causes a vacuum effect with the weight. You press the weight in, and the air inside will push the weight back out slightly. Hah! I had to use pliers to get the weight out. Scoop as much glue out. And put the weight back in. All the while, the glue is starting to dry and making a stringy mess. Not a good start. But after 3-4 pawns the rest was smooth sailing. 

The last few pieces were a pain. There must've been some tiny variance in the diameter of the weight, or the drilled hole. The last few weren't going in as smoothly as the others and I didn't have any others to swap around. I had to use some sandpaper to shave off a tiny fraction of an inch off the diameter so it wouldn't seize an get stuck halfway in. I should've dry fit everything beforehand and marry each chess piece with a weight before starting. 

NOT BAD! My fingers are not glued together. I would call that a success. Allowing a day for the glue to fully cure, then moving on to the re-felting. 

Part 3: The Felt
(Coming soon...)

Ha! Trust me buddy, once you see the result and feel the difference between quality felt and the standard felt, you will cave in to refelt allllll your other pieces

It looks great to me @Pawnerai.

Oh btw, I like your leatherman. We should have more threads with leatherman in the background

Not sure I'll have much time today for Part 3. I started taking measurements in the morning before work. I'll pick it up again during lunch. I'm using the method @conorokane described using stiffened felt and a rotary cutter. 

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/bohemia-pieces-from-chessbazaar-re-felted-in-red-photos

And then for comparison, I will be using the method @KineticPawn described using the curved scissors for one of my plastic sets in the future. Maybe the Butters or Petersen's Kings Indian.

Part 3: The Felt Finale

I'm officially in the home stretch. A compass style circle cutter from Amazon cost $12. The stiffened felt from Etsy seller Feltcookie cost $1.95 per 8.5x14" sheet. Spray adhesive, cutting mat, and calipers were all stuff from around the house. Cutting and gluing is all familiar to me. So in my mind, if I just take my time and measure precisely it should be smooth sailing. Let's finish this.

Not too shabby!

BEAUTIFUL write-up and photos. This thread is now an instant classic...so much utility here, thank you! Also, congratulations on owning a stunning set of rattle-free Chavet pieces.

Nice job!

Amazing job @Pawnerai!! If it wasn't for the colors I would've believed that those were original bases from manufacturer.   I think I'm going to give your method a try and possibly switch to it altogether if it works out.   Do you think the compass cutter would be able to cut billard baize?

My current method uses the pieces base as a sort of guide rail which will work for 75% of my sets but it isnt optimal for pieces with recessed bases. 

Here is an illustration of a recessed base:

This is a set with non-recessed base: